Unlikely
by SiriuslylvnSirius25
Summary: Four students. Four different houses. The outspoken. The misfit. The shy. The loner. Who knew that one charms assignment could bring together even the most unlikely of people?
1. Chapter 1

**C H A P T E R 1**

Sixth Year, September

Ardal TeGailey rolled his eyes, annoyed. For the past fifteen minutes, he'd been sitting with three people that he really didn't wish to be around. It wasn't that he had a problem with either of them or anything. No, it was much more personal than that. He didn't want to be around _anyone_. Ardal was a man of secrets, a man of keeping to himself. He was perfectly capable of doing the entire Charms assignment on his own. No need to involve others, but sadly it wasn't his choice. It was the professors. For some reason, unknown to wizard kind, Professor Flitwick thought that making groups of four for a two week assignment would be good. He'd said it was for the sixth years to get to know the students from others houses better, but really Ardal thought it was all for the sake of 'house unity'.

Honestly, the teachers needed to get passed it. There was never going to be house unity. That's just how it's always been and will always be. No point in trying to force it, nothing good every came of something forced. At least that was the Slytherin's view.

~~~

"No, no…the charm doesn't work like that. The objects size determines first word and the weight determines second word," Nilly Willis grabbed at the piece of parchment one of her partners was working on, and erasing what she'd written. The Ravenclaw replaced the words with ones that were very similar to the ones that she'd just spoken out loud, as well as adding in the weight and size classifications with the words they went along with. "Luckily, the classifications are broad enough so that an estimate usually works. Granted, you do have to know the all the possible combinations first."

Nilly pushed the paper back over to it's former writer, and leaned back in her chair. She continued to watch as the Gryffindor scribbled a few more sentences before looking back at the book for more information. They were going to have to revise the essay a few times before handing it in, but they did have two weeks so there was plenty of time for that later. At the moment however, it seemed that only the two girls of the group were making any effort at the project, and that irritated the girl to no end. One of the boy's (a rather lanky blonde-haired boy) didn't seem to know whether his opinion was wanted or not; and the other (a well built dark-haired quidditch player) just acted like he didn't care. Though Nilly wasn't surprised, that boy was a Slytherin after all. He probably hated this project more than she did.

~~~

"Hey! I have an idea," sarcasm dripped from the words that flowed through Rhay Ponds' mouth. She'd stopped writing for a few moments, and was looking between the males of her group with fake cheerfulness. "Why don't you two start to help for a change?" Though they hadn't really been partnered up for that long, couldn't have been more than twenty minutes, the two of them hadn't even uttered a word. Not even a simple hello.

Rhay ran a hand through her silky black hair, letting each strand slip smoothly through her fingers, as she waited for a response. When neither of the two boys answered, the Gryffindor raised her left eyebrow in her trademark fashion, making it clear that she was ticked off. "Look, do you really think that either of us," she pointed between herself and the Ravenclaw girl, "want to be here either? No. Now either you two help out or I take my own measure to make you help out."

~~~

Maddox Myson almost shuddered as the dark-haired girl spoke. The threat that left her mouth was not empty, and he knew it. It was common knowledge that the girl in front of his had a temper, and she was known to follow through on the things she said. Still, Maddox had no idea what they were even doing. Yeah he knew it was a project, but he didn't even know what it was on.

So despite the Gryffindor's threat, Maddox stayed silent. He supposed whatever she had in mind couldn't be worse than not knowing what they were doing. Luckily for him, the Slytherin boy, who sat a little bit away from him, spoke, saving him from both the embarrassment and the wrath of the brunette.

"Sorry Gryff, but I don't take orders from the red and cold," the boy spoke viciously. "Oops, did I say cold? Oh…I meant gold. Sometimes it slips, you know?" The smirk on his face told Maddox exactly what the boy was doing. He wanted a rise out of the Gryffindor and Maddox knew that was what he was going to get. It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to respond either.

"I am not the cold one, Slytherin, or did you fail to notice that it is your house that takes pride in being so?" she spat back at him. It wasn't even directed at Maddox, yet the Hufflepuff was the one who pushed his chair, as discreetly as possible, farther away from the Gryffindor.

"Really? I thought we were known for our cunning and superiorly good looks."

"Ha! Good looking? Is that what you tell yourself when you look in the mirror every morning? Sorry to break it to ya, hun, your not even close. You don't even begin to scrape the surface of good looking."

"Well that's funny because I seem to recall a rumor that went around just last year about your little 'crush' on me," he pretended to think by putting a finger to his chin. This Maddox could actually confirm. He'd heard the rumor as well. It'd been an uproar in the school. After all, who would have thought that a Gryffindor, and a very outspoken one at that, would outwardly like a Slytherin? However after two weeks the rumor was put out when Sirius Black stood up and admitted that he started the rumor because of a fight they'd gotten into. Maddox still had his suspicions as to whether or not that was true.

"Oh, you know exactly wher-" the Gryffindor started, only to be interrupted by a surprisingly strong voice.

"Hi! I'm Nilly, and I don't recall any of your names. So how about we forget about this petty fight, introduce ourselves, and get on with the project," the small blond haired Ravenclaw girl said. It was quite surprising to see her interrupt the two fighting. From what Maddox had seen over the years, she only took charge when it came to school work and usually when somebody was making a mistake. He'd always assumed that she was more like him. The quiet, reserved sort of person.

Meanwhile the Gryffindor and Slytherin both gaped at the petite girl. They both seemed to be in shock that she'd interrupted them, but neither said anything. Maddox found it a bit unnerving, the silence that had fallen over the group. It was awkward, and he didn't like awkward. Actually, he didn't really like groups, or people. They all made him a bit nervous, but to his surprise he was the next one to speak. "I'm, um, Maddox."

The Hufflepuff boy could feel heat rise to his face when he managed to capture the attention of all three of them. What had expected, though, really? He spoke, they should look. The silence that hung over them continued to get more awkward. Maddox rubbed the back of his neck to calm himself and cleared his throat in an attempt to get others to talk.

"I guess I'll go next," the Gryffindor shrugged, "I'm Rhay, but some of you already seem to know that." She made it a point to look at the Slytherin as she spoke in reference to the rumor. Then, she raised her eyebrows at him in invitation to introduce himself.

"Ardal."

That was enough for Maddox, and apparently the other two accepted it as well. "Alright, um, so…obviously we have this essay to write, but we'll also need to do some sort of presentation of the charm," Rhay took charge.

"I suggest that we do an example of each of the combinations of the charm, or at least do four. That way we could each demonstrate one," Nilly suggested in a soft voice. It seemed that she'd gone back to her quiet mode, and truthfully Maddox was happy for it. At least he wasn't the only one.

"Good idea," Rhay smiled and wrote it down on a spare piece of parchment. "We'll also need to practice. We only have two weeks, and the book makes it seem like the spells are rather tough. We're going to have to do some of this outside of the classroom." Maddox didn't fail to notice the bitter tone in her voice as she spoke. He also could have sworn she sent a quick glare at Ardal, but he wasn't positive on that account. It was too fast to be sure.

"Whatever. The bell's going to ring in a few moments. How about after lunch tomorrow in the fifth floor abandoned classroom?" Maddox was surprised to see that it was Ardal who made the suggestion.

The rest of the group nodded their consent just as the bell rang.

~~~

_Day two of this bloody assignment and I'm already about to rip my hair out_, Rhay thought to herself. The group was crowded inside the abandoned classroom after lunch on a Thursday afternoon, as was decided in class. So far it'd been an hour and they'd made absolutely no progress on the essay, and the actual practical part wasn't going so well. Rhay was ready to give up and just walk out on them. She was feeling claustrophobic being stuck in the room with Ardal.

The rumor that was spread the previous year did actually have some truth to it, though Rhay would never admit it. She'd just said that the boy was kind of cute, in passing, and Black had happened to overhear. It was also her that made him stand up in front of the school two weeks later and tell them all it was a made up rumor meant to be a prank. Oh the powers of knowing one of the boy's more well kept secrets. Rhay always appreciated having such knowledge, especially since the two of them got along only on a rare occasion. It made for great blackmail.

"Alright!" she pushed herself off the desk she was previously sitting on, and put her hands on her hips. "How about we actually talk to each other to get something done instead of all of us doing it on our own. It'd be a lot easier if we worked together, don't ya think?" Rhay sighed, sometimes being a voice of reason was rather annoying. Then again, being stuck there was rather annoying.

Rhay looked at the group, not failing to notice that Ardal was not looking her way; a fact which greatly pissed her off. "Maddox, grab that binder over there," she pointed to a shelf that contained a few scattered items. "What size range is that in, do you think? And what about the weight?"

"Um, can't be more than…two pounds," Maddox answered her first question quietly.

"10 by 12 inches,:" she heard Ardal say. It didn't even seem like he looked at it, but she wasn't going to argue for once. She just wanted to get something done. "It'd probably fall in the _Tulallis_ category."

"Alright, so… _Tulallis Macarnu_?" she asked out loud.

"Yeah, but make sure you emphasize the 'all' in _Tulallis_," Nilly reminded her. Rhay merely nodded her head in response before concentrating on the binder in front of her. She repeated the charm in her head a few times before readying herself to perform the charm. Though she doubted it would work, the girl flicked her wand and said the incantation as clearly as possible at the binder. To no ones shock, nothing happened.

"Well, can't say I didn't try," Rhay said nonchalantly and took a seat on the table once more. "Anyone else wanna give it a shot?"

Each one took a turn attempting to do the spell, and none succeeded. Well actually, Nilly did get it to turn a very dark shade of blue, or at least that's what they told themselves. It really could have just been a trick of light, but for confidence purposes it was decided that it really did change color for a split second. After everyone tried, they came to a group decision to leave it at that, and pick up again the next day after classes.

~~~

"Hey! TeGailey!" a voice rang through the Great Hall, getting closer to the boy being called.

It took all of Ardal's strength not to yell at the person coming his way. "It's tay-glee, not teh-gay-lee. Get it right or don't say it at all," he rolled his eyes at the girl in front of him. It was bad enough that she was a Gryffindor coming over to him at the Slytherin table, but getting his name wrong was just dreadful. If there was one thing that pissed him off more than anything else, it was that. "What do you want?"

"Oh, just reminding you that we're working on the project in the library in an hour," she replied as if she wasn't being stared down by the three Slytherins Ardal was sitting with.

"I know, I don't forget things. Now you can go," he said, irritated.

"Aren't we a ray of sunshine?" was the last thing she said before leaving. Ardal just rolled his eyes and turned back to the boys he was sitting with.

"What was that about? Since when do you hang out with the likes of _them_?" Nott growled and glared after the girl.

"I don't. It's for a Herbology project, not that it's any of your business. I can do what I please," Ardal sneered before standing up, and leaving the Great Hall just as Rhay had done moments before. The Slytherin boy had decided long ago that he didn't care what the other Slytherin's thought. In fact he'd made it a point to spend as little time as possible around them. It's not like he wasn't necessarily like them, it was more of he didn't get the sadistic pleasure out of beating up younger students, and ganging up on muggleborns. He didn't have any real problem with them, he just didn't go out of his way to befriend them.

Ardal had his own views, separate from those of his parents and those of the other Slytherins. Yes, he wasn't kind and he could be conniving, but he wasn't inhuman. He cared about some things. He didn't want people to die for no reason; he didn't care about minor injuries, that wasn't his problem. Ardal basically let nature take it's course. He didn't feel the impulse to interfere, and he didn't blink when he saw something amiss. But despite that, he really did care in his own way.

To pass off the time until the group was to meet up, the boy walked around the castle aimlessly. In that time he managed to interrupt a couple get a little bit too friendly with each other in public, and overhear a bit of teacher gossip. It was nothing to him. He just continued on his way not giving any of it a second thought. In fact, the only thing he was thinking about was how long the project was going to take. It'd been a week and a half. It was Saturday, and the project was due this coming Tuesday. They had finished the essay, and managed to get two of the charms to work, but when the size and weight of the objects jumped into the next category it got more difficult. Of course, Ardal volunteered to be the one to perform the hardest one while Rhay took the next hardest. Ardal secretly wondered if it was some sort of ego thing for the girl, he didn't deny that was the reason he'd volunteered, but Rhay refused to give any reasoning. He wouldn't doubt it if that was the real reason.

"Woah, watch it," a male's voice snarled at Ardal. The boy broke out of his revere and looked at the person who'd spoke. He couldn't stop the smirk on his face when he saw none other than Sirius Black and James Potter standing in front of him, both with menacing looks on their faces.

"Why should I? You should be watching out for me," Ardal retorted. While he wasn't one to bring on physical fights, verbal ones he had no problem with. It was always fun to get a reaction out of people, and in his own way that was Ardal's form of entertainment.

"Watch what you say TeGailey or you might find that your pumpkin juice doesn't take like it normally does one morning," Black spat, and moved to shove by the Slytherin.

"Oo, I'm so scared. Please, don't do anything to my pumpkin juice! Whatever will I do?" Sarcasm seeped through each word. However, all he got out of the two boys was glare before they walked off. Not usually what the two would do in such a situation, but Ardal wasn't too disappointed, he did have more important things to do.

~~~

"Urgh, why couldn't we just hex him?" Sirius Black muttered after he and James Potter turned the corner.

"Because we have to meet Remus in five minutes, and the lake is at least a ten minute walk from here," James replied. "Besides, we'll just get him back later along with the rest of those slime balls."

Sirius couldn't fight that. He knew that they would soon be getting a taste of something rather unpleasant. Well, once the plan was completed sorted out. That was actually the point of the meeting between the boys. "Wait, what about Peter? Isn't he going to be there too?" Black wondered out loud. They'd been seeing less and less of the boy these days, and they shared a room with him for God's sake. It seemed the only time he was with them for more than an hour was on the night of the full moon, and that was just to help out a friend.

"He's getting extra help in some class," James shrugged it off. They all knew that their friend wasn't the smartest of lads, but still he could have asked Remus for help. The boy wouldn't have turned him down. After all, where else would he and James get their homework from? It wasn't that they weren't smart enough to do it on their own, they definitely were, it was just that they couldn't be bothered. There were definitely many more things they'd rather be doing.

"You know, I've been thinking…why don't we greaten the prank a bit?" Sirius started.

"Greaten the prank?"

"Yeah, instead of just the Slytherins, why not make it everyone? Gryffindors included. We know what's going to happen, so we just won't drink anything. It's not like it's a cruel prank. It's definitely a more tame one for us, just with greater magnitude."

James seemed to be in thought for a moment before a wide grin spread across his face. "My dear Padfoot, I think that is a fantastic idea. We'll just have to run it by Moony first since he's the real organizer of it. I'm sure he'll agree, and if not, we'll make him agree."

~~~

Yesterday's group meeting hadn't gone exactly as Nilly had hoped it would, but at least they got something done. Both Rhay and Ardal had managed to get a little bit of color and sparkle on each of their objects before they called it a day. The group had originally planned on having today off. It was Sunday after all, but Nilly had insisted that they meet again. They only had two more days, one of which they had classes on. It was really the only logical day to meet up. This time they'd vowed not to leave until they at least succeeded with one of the objects.

However, they weren't to meet until after breakfast and right now that was where Nilly was. She sat at the Ravenclaw table sipping at her orange juice, and reading a book. It was a little after eight, and on a Sunday that was early. However, it seemed that almost half the school was already up. Granted, many of them had tired eyes and were yawning, but they were still up. Nilly looked around at her own table for a moment, and noted that practically her whole house was there. It was a rare moment in time when that happened, but they were Ravenclaws. Most of them planned their days out at breakfast, so she supposed once one person got up in a dorm, most of the others did as well.

It was different with the sixth year girls, though only slightly. Nilly was usually the first one up since she went to bed the earliest, but not once had she ever bothered to wake the others. It wasn't that they didn't get along, well okay they didn't really. But it was more of the fact that they just didn't talk to her. Usually it was a cold shoulder or on the occasion a mere nod in greeting. It hadn't always been that way. They were all once close friends, until fourth year. After a fight with Terry Underway, Nilly had been shoved to the side. Terry was the leader of the group, she always had been. When Nilly made the mistake of talking about her in her journal, she was 'disowned' as they called it.

The incident had happened in May of their fourth year, and they never forgave her. It had only been one entry in particular. Nilly had been upset when she wrote it. After all, it had been her birthday, and Terry went out and took the boy she knew Nilly was crushing on. It was within her right to be angry, or at least that's what Nilly thought and stood by to this day.

Nilly made sure to charm her journal now.

"Hey Nilly," a voice said from behind the girl, causing her to jump in her seat. "Sorry to scare you."

"Um, no, it's fine," she smiled up at Rhay who'd taken her response as an invitation to sit down. Nilly just looked at the girl expectantly, but she didn't seem to understand. "So, why are you here?"

"Oh, I just saw you sitting alone and thought I should join you," Rhay started, now looking like she was uncertain of her choice. Nilly instantly felt bad for being so rude, but that didn't stop her from wondering what gave the girl such an idea. Sure, they'd been working on the project together and they'd been civil to each other. Did that mean something? Did she miss something that indicated a potential friendship?

"Sorry, I just thought, um, it's fine if you join me," she offered up a smile, figuring she might as well take the opportunity. Nilly hadn't made any friends since the incident, and though she'd gotten used to being alone she did find herself enjoying company from time to time.

"Good," Rhay grinned, her bubbly personality coming through. "So I was talking to Lily the other day, and she said that her group wasn't doing much better on their assigned charm. I guess we're not as far behind as we thought. I mean, it's Lily, come on. She's like a Charm's expert. If her group isn't up to par, then no one's group is up to par."

Nilly could see the logic in the girl's words, and she probably should have been offended by it but she wasn't. Lily Evans was smart, Nilly had to agree. She was also definitely the best Charm's student in their year. "I guess so," Nilly nodded her head.

"Um, can I ask you something?" Rhay asked uncertainly, and Nilly somewhat reluctantly nodded her head.

"Sure…"

"Why-" she started when a loud shriek erupted through the Great Hall. All heads turned in the direction of a Hufflepuff fifth year whose hair was rapidly getting shorter, and changing color. Nilly's eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight for right beside the girl was a boy, whose hair was steadily getting longer and changing color. Then suddenly there was an uproar in the Great Hall, and Nilly felt her own hair getting shorter. She felt like she couldn't breathe as she grabbed on to her precious blond hair in an attempt to stop it, but it continued to disappear into her scalp until it was just above her ears in a popular boy cut. She could see a few strands that fell into her eyes as it began to change into a light purple color. Tears welled up in her eyes, and it was all she could do to keep them at bay.

Next to her, Rhay's face was becoming red with anger. Her hair, too, was now in a boy cut, but was changing a royal blue color. The menacing look on her face was directed at a group of boys at her rightful table, laughing their asses off at the mess. Before Nilly knew what was happening, the girl stood up and charged over at them with speed. "Are you fucking kidding me!" she screamed in outrage when she reached the boys, capturing the attention of almost the entire Great Hall.

~~~

James clutched his stomach as it cramped up from laughter. The Great Hall was a disaster. Students were screaming, some were even crying, and the professors had no idea what to do. Luckily, McGonagall wasn't yet in the room or the four boys would have already been dragged off. Beside him, Sirius, Peter, and even Remus were laughing their heads off. Granted, Remus was at least trying not to, but even the most indignant person would laugh at this. Well, provided they weren't a victim. Too bad everyone at breakfast that morning was a victim.

"Are you fucking kidding me!"

James stopped laughing just long enough to look up and see the very red, angry face of one Rhay Ponds. This, of course, just sent him tumbling over in laughter again. Only Sirius was able to respond to her, as he had some inexplicable talent to be able to stop laughing on cue. "Whatever do you mean?" he put on his innocent kid look, and frowned at the girl.

"You know what I mean! Look at this!" she grabbed a piece of her blue hair to emphasize her point. "Change it back now!"

"Sorry, no can do love. It'll wear off in about a week," Sirius replied in all truthfulness.

"A WEEK!?" Rhay gaped at him, before charging at him, causing him to tumble off the seat. James stopped laughing to watch as the girl tackled his best mate, and proceeded to wrestle with him on the floor of the Great Hall.

"Change it back!"

"I can't!" Sirius yelled back as he struggled to pin her on the ground. "Merlin woman, what do you do in your free time? Lift first years?" This, angered the blue-haired girl even more, but Sirius had already gained control. James laughed as Rhay struggled underneath Sirius in anger, when another person pushed through the crowd of angry students that had gathered.

"Get off her," the eerily calm voice of Lily Evans. Even James had to struggle not to laugh at the green-eyed girl. Her once gorgeous locks of flowing red hair were now a short bob of hot pink. "Professor McGonagall is on her way with Professor Dumbledore." Her anger seeped through her words, but she continued to keep her voice level. James was shocked at how well she was taking it all, though it was probably because she'd gotten the teachers right away and they were right behind her.

Sure enough, the enraged voice of Professor McGonagall rang through the Great Hall only moments later. "What is going on here?" her voice ricocheted off the walls. She immediately looked towards the center of the group, at the four boys who were suspiciously unhindered by everything. "You four! My office, NOW!"

They didn't need to be told twice. James and the three other boys stood up, and followed the professor out the door.

~~~

"One week! One week!" Rhay had been muttering the entire time the group was in the abandoned classroom. Maddox, whose hair was a great deal longer, was sick of hearing it.

"Can you please stop? We all know. We've all been infected. Now we need to finish this project," he said. He'd been more outspoken over the last few days of meetings, but this was the first time he'd actually had the nerve to interrupt Rhay. She still unnerved him, but his annoyance got the better of him.

"Oh yeah, and what pray tell, happened to you? All I see is longer hair," she noted bitterly.

"That's because mine happens to be glow in the dark," Maddox replied disdainfully and shrugged lower into the seat he occupied. They'd gotten nothing done since they met up that day. No one was in the mood to work, all of them were too angry to work. While Rhay outwardly muttered about them being stuck like that for a week, Nilly stayed quiet looking very upset, Ardal looked like he was going to explode in anger at any moment, and Maddox kept to himself. Until that moment, that is.

"Let's get back at them," Nilly's small voice came from the corner she was sitting in. All three of them looked at her in slight surprise. If anyone were to suggest revenge, Maddox would have thought it would be Rhay or even Ardal, but definitely not Nilly.

"Let's," Rhay agreed, and Maddox watched as her frown turned into a mischievous smirk.

"How?" Maddox asked, glancing between the three in the room.

"Easy. With a prank. We have to beat them at their own game," Ardal said simply. The Slytherin boy hadn't spoken a word that day, until now. Maddox was shocked he was even going along with it. Apparently, the Slytherin wanted to exact revenge on the four Gryffindors more than he wanted to be rid of the three people in front of him, and he knew he couldn't do it all on his own.


	2. Chapter 2

**C H A P T E R 2**

Sixth Year, October

"That's not gonna work," Rhay shook her head. "We need something better. It's been over two weeks and the best we can come up with is making them magnetic?"

"Well, I don't see you coming up with anything good, either," Ardal sneered. Rhay just glared at him, and shrugged lower in her seat. The abandoned classroom on the fifth floor had become a sort of meeting area for the foursome over the past few weeks. After successfully completing their Charms assignment, they met up two to four times a week to see what they could come up with for a prank. So far nothing had come of it.

"Why don't we just…I don't know, forget about it?" Maddox suggested in his timid voice. Rhay looked at the skinny blond and sighed. She, too, had had thoughts of giving up. They were getting no where, and the progress they'd made on being civil to each other was starting to go downhill again. There was only so much she was willing to put up with when it came to the Slytherin boy, and they were getting very close to it.

"No. I'm sick of those stupid boys getting away with all of this. No one in this school is willing to retaliate, and all they get in punishment is a slap on the wrist and a few detentions. Enough is enough, they do not own this school. Despite what they think," Ardal raised his eyebrows as if daring any of them to disagree. Rhay felt the sudden urge to tell him that he didn't control them, but she instantly thought of the last time a control issue was brought up, and decided against it. They didn't need another 'petty fight', as Nilly had put it. No matter how much Rhay wanted to put him in his place.

"Hold on," Nilly spoke up, looking like she was in deep thought. "I think I have an idea."

_Maybe this wasn't such a great idea, _Nilly thought to herself as the group of four sneaked through the hallways. It was well past curfew, but it was the only time they could get what they needed without being seen. Only Maddox didn't have to worry. His prefect status gave him the right to be out, though it wasn't his patrol night. Nilly felt jealousy creep inside her, but she pushed it away. So what if she didn't get prefect? It really wasn't that big of a deal, right?

She shook her head from her thoughts when footsteps were heard. Her eyes darted around trying to find a good hiding place, but Ardal found one first. "Over here," he whispered urgently, and shoved them all behind a nearby tapestry.

"Filch is going to be pissed when he sees his precious little Norris in the morning," a voice sounded from the hallway. There was a hint of laughter in the oddly familiar voice. Nilly couldn't quite put a face to it, but she had a strong feeling that she knew who it was. Sure enough, her answer was given to her by the next voice.

"You'll be quiet Sirius if you want it to be morning when he finds the cat," a second voice said. It didn't take a genius to know that one was Potter, for where ever there was Black, Potter was sure to follow. Or vice versa.

Nilly held her breath to keep from making too much noise. However, as the four crowed the small space behind the tapestry, she felt something crawl onto her arm. She squeezed her eyes shut and told herself that she was just imagining it; there was nothing there. The feeling didn't go away, and she couldn't hold it in any longer. Only seconds after she'd felt the creepy crawly feeling, the Ravenclaw girl looked down at her arm. Sure enough, a small black spider was slowly climbing up it. If there was one thing this girl hated more than anything, it was spiders.

"AH!" she shrieked and leapt out from behind the tapestry, furiously swiping at her arm. Once she was positive the spider was gone, she relaxed, only to realize exactly what she'd done. Nilly slowly turned her head around and peered into two pairs of very curious eyes. She gulped audibly.

"Um, I was just, um…I thought you might have been Filch. Thank goodness you weren't, I mean that could have really ended badly," Nilly rambled slightly, but when they didn't say anything in the half a second she stopped talking, she continued. "There was a…spider." Just thinking about the bug, sent a shiver down her spine. She twitched slightly when she tried to suppress the feeling, only to make it worse.

"Ok…" Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. _That's all he can say? _she thought.

"What are you doing out wandering around so late?" James asked skeptically. Nilly's eyes widened slightly in panic, and she searched her brain for an excuse.

"I was, um…lost. I mean, I am lost. I can't seem to find my way back to Ravenclaw tower," was the best she could come up with, but for reassurance purposes she threw in a slight puppy-dog look. They didn't seem to take her excuse at first, but the longer she stood there with her innocent look, the faster they believed her.

"Just take a right around here, go up four flights of stairs, then go to the left. Go to the end of the hall, go up another flight of stairs, and take another left. Then in the middle of that hallway, take a right and you'll be there," Sirius replied with ease. Nilly gaped at the boy. She knew exactly where her house was, and his directions were spot on.

"How di-" Nilly stopped herself before she gave away that she hadn't really been lost. " I mean, could you possibly…walk me? There? It's just that, I don't want to get lost again, and it's all dark and scary in the castle at night." She looked between the two with a small frown, and batted her eyelashes for effect. Nilly was surprising herself with what she was doing, but she knew that it needed to be done. There was no way for her to be able to rejoin the group with Sirius and James getting suspicious. Plus, they needed to be lured out of the way. If she could get them to take her to Ravenclaw Tower, that was at least fifteen minutes the group didn't need to worry about. Twenty, if Nilly walked slowly.

"Sure," Sirius replied with a grin, before James could even have time to respond. It was hard for Nilly not to smirk, but she managed it. There was only one thing that weakened Sirius, and that was a pretty girl that needed help.

Ardal waited for the footsteps to completely disappear before signaling to the others that they could go. Once out of the cramped area behind the tapestry, he was the first to speak. "I can honestly say that I would never have thought she'd have it in her to lie like that."

"I'm proud of her," Rhay smiled to no one in particular. Ardal had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. While he was surprised at how good of an actress the Ravenclaw had been, he wouldn't have gone so far as to say that he was 'proud of her'. After all, the prank they decided to use had been her idea. Without her it seemed kind of pointless to be out and about. Still, he was at least happy to be rid of the two idiots that'd gotten in the way in the first place.

"Now what do we do?" Maddox voiced Ardal's question.

"We keep to the plan, I guess." Ardal couldn't disagree, they had gotten this far. They couldn't back out now. So together, the three of them crept through the hallways once more. It took only five minutes to reach their destination with no interruptions. Outside the door that lead to the Muggle Studies room, they took a vote as to who the lookout should be. Everyone, even himself, voted for Maddox. He was quiet enough to be able to stand there and not be heard. Plus, he probably had the best hearing out of all of them.

So together, Ardal and Rhay stepped into the classroom. "Have you been in here before?" Rhay asked, and Ardal had the feeling that she already knew the answer.

"No."

"Didn't think so. Neither have I," she admitted. Well, that could be problematic. Neither of them knew enough about the room to know where anything was. "Maybe we should just look around."

"What a genius you are! And here I was thinking we should just sit here and wait for the items to come to us," Ardal couldn't hold in the sarcasm any longer. He was still finding it hard to believe that he was even doing this, with a Gryffindor nonetheless. The boy had stooped low.

"Sorry…I was just saying." Ardal didn't miss the roll of Rhay's eyes. This time he chose to keep his tongue, and instead walked off in the direction of the teacher's desk where various items were strewn. He shuffled through the items, having difficulty when it came to sliding a large white box with various numbers and words on it. His hand slipped and pushed one of the buttons, and the door opened. He jumped slightly and glared down at the monstrous thing. Inside a circular glass plate sat.

"What is this?" He'd spoken the words so low that he hadn't expected an answer, which is why he was surprised when Rhay did.

"I think it's called a, um, Mike Row wave. Which is silly when you think about it because there is definitely no Mike Row waving, whoever Mike Row is…" she trailed off with a befuddled look on her face. Ardal shook his head and shut the door of the white box before giving it a large shove out of the way. Once he'd done that, the boy was pleasantly surprised to read the word 'puppets' on a cardboard box.

"I think I found it!" he shout-whispered across the room. Rhay immediately came over to him and smiled.

"Puhp-pets," she read slowly. "Yes. Alright, grab it, I'll get Maddox, and we can all get out of here before we're caught."

Sirius and James walked on either side of the blond haired girl as they headed towards Ravenclaw Tower. Neither had said much of anything in the last two minutes, which was a miracle for both of them. However, Sirius didn't take silence very well. "So, what's your name? Natalie?" he asked with a confident grin on his face that said he was sure he was correct.

"Will you lower your voice?" she whispered back. "And no. It's Nilly."

"Oh." Sirius slowed his pace so he was just behind Nilly and sent a laughing look to James. "Sorry about that. Just so many faces in this school, you know, hard to keep track of all the names that go along." He grinned down at her, but all he got in return was another urgent look to be more quiet.

"You worried about getting caught?" James laughed lightly. "Don't worry, you're with us. Marauders. We never get caught. Well, almost never."

"Yeah, and times like now are those 'almost' times," she fired back and picked up her pace.

"Hey! Don't you need us to lead you? I thought you didn't know where you were going?"

"Right... how much farther?" Sirius raised a skeptical eyebrow and frowned slightly. There was no doubt in his mind at this point that Prongs and him had been duped. This girl had never been lost. She couldn't have been, after living in this castle for most of the past six years of her life (as he was fairly confident he shared a few classes with her). The only problem was, why would she make up such a lie? Of course the simple answer would be just to spend time with Sirius… and James, but despite his cocky demeanor the boy knew that answer wasn't likely. After all, how would she have known they'd be out at this time? And why would she have been hiding from them if that was true?

"So what's the real reason you were behind that tapestry?" Sirius spoke quickly in hopes to catch the girl off guard.

"Huh?" _Success! _he thought, but soon his hopes were crushed as Nilly quickly recovered. "I told you already…I thought you were Filch. Anyway, we're here… thank you for your oh so generous kindness, I'll see you two around. Bye!"

Sirius stood frozen to his spot for a moment as he tried to think of what the girl just did. She completely averted his question. No one does that. Never. But as soon as he realized that, the Ravenclaw had already successfully answered a riddle and made it into her dorm. "Damn…let's go Prongs."

"Hey, Pads, do you think she's friends with Lily…?" Sirius rolled his eyes at his best mate and continued walking.

"This is going to be classic," Rhay muttered to Nilly two days after their night escapade. Since the hair incident, which Rhay hated to even think about, she'd taken to sitting with Nilly during meal hours. There was a connection between the two girls, something that Rhay didn't understand. Every time she thinks about going back to her own table with Lily and the others, she can't bring herself to do it. Her newfound friendship with Nilly was stronger than any friendship she had with her dorm mates. Don't get her wrong, she loves her dorm mates, she wouldn't trade them for the world, but she'd always felt as if she was a tag-along. She never quite fit into their circle.

Nilly smiled in anticipation, and watched the Gryffindor table with Rhay. It only took a few moments for it to happen. There was a squeak from Peter, who almost fell backwards, and the puppets followed. Four different puppets; one with a look of arrogance, one with puppy dog eyes, one that looked out of place, and one with it's head buried in a book. Each one had a glass of water in it's hand, and hovered over a single boy. One by one, the puppets dumped water on the boys' heads while singing:

_I'm the prat_

_I'm the flirt_

_I'm the misfit_

_And I'm the dork_

The water instantly refilled itself, and the puppets dumped the water again, all the while continuing to sing. Rhay didn't even bother trying to hide her amusement. She caught a glimpse of the look of shock on each of the Marauders' faces, and she was set into a fit of laughter. Her stomach clenched as she laughed. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes when the boys got up and tried to get the puppets away only to have them laugh, yes laugh, and float a little higher in the air out of their reach. Almost every student in the Great Hall was laughing just as Rhay was. She looked to her left and saw that Nilly couldn't control herself anymore than she could. One table behind her, Ardal chuckled with pure amusement. Over at the Hufflepuff table, Maddox seemed shocked that their prank had worked, but the grin on his face told Rhay he was laughing on the inside. Even Lily, to Rhay's surprise, was laughing.

Someone had finally put the Marauders in their rightful place. Only that someone was a group, and each student in the group knew in that moment that an unbreakable friendship was blossoming between them.


	3. Chapter 3

C H A P T E R 3

Sixth Year, Late October

"Get a hold of yourself, man!" James shook Sirius by the shoulders roughly. Just one hour ago the four Marauders were being soaked repeatedly by a group of bewitched puppets in front of the entire school. Now, back in their dorm, Sirius paced back and forth muttering violently under his breath.

"I CANT!" he barked back at his best mate. "I've never been pranked on before! Is this how you feel when we pick on you, Wormtail?"

The small, watery-eyed boy twitched at being addressed, but recovered somewhat speedily. "Kinda?" he stated as if he didn't know what else to say.

"Oh man, sorry about all those times we've embarrassed you," Sirius ran a shaky hand through his hair, the dark strands slipped between his fingers like silk. Even as he said it, however, he knew nothing was going to change. They would still prank on the smaller boy, that's just how it will always be.

"It's, uh, it's okay… but what are we, uh, gonna do about this?" Peter asked, being the first to speak aloud about revenge.

"Revenge. A prank to top this kiddo one. Easy," James replied simply. As always it was Remus who was the voice of reason.

"How do you propose we do that when we have no idea _who_ it was in the first place?"

"Good point."

"Prank everyone!" Sirius declared, pointed a finger in the air with a triumphant grin on his face. "Just like last time. Until we know who it was, we'll just continue to prank everyone. Someone will rat whoever it was out eventually."

"I like the way you think, mate," James Potter grinned and lazily draped his left arm around the other boy with an appreciative pat on the back.

Remus sighed and shook his head. Though there was probably no getting through to the boys, he had to try. "There's no way we'll get away with it. The detentions are just going to rack up until I lose my prefects badge, and we all get expelled. It's just not practical."

"Oh my dear Remy," Sirius started, taking his free arm and putting it over his shoulders as James had done to him. "When have we ever been practical?"

"That was great! That was just fabulous! I can't even describe what that was!" Rhay continued to laugh as she had in the Great Hall only to a lesser degree.

"I believe you just _did_," Ardal rolled his eyes. Ever the smartass. Rhay stuck out her tongue at the boy. Currently, the four students were sitting in the abandoned classroom. It'd been about an hour after the prank, but Rhay continued to talk about it.

"Can we move on to another topic? _Please_," Nilly implored, even she was getting tired of Rhay's fawning over the prank.

"Why don't we do something? Like, I don't know…um, a game?" Maddox suggested.

"Perfect! A game! How about…truth?"

"And how does that go?" Ardal seemed hesitant.

"We go around and ask questions to each other. They can be anything from what's your favorite color to what scares you most about the future. The trick is you _have_ to answer or risk losing the game. It's ongoing and doesn't end until three of us choose to pass. However, in order to officially win, the last person has to answer one final question. The three who passed can collectively come up with one question, and if the last person chooses not to answer everyone is back in and the game continues. If that is to happen, the questions that were passed on are thrown out of the game," Nilly explained. Maddox bit down on his lower lip and looked between the other two in the room. Rhay seemed almost eager to go along, but Ardal's unreadable expression made Maddox think he wasn't about ready to go along with it.

"That sounds like fun, lets do it!" Rhay exclaimed with a grin on her face, just as Maddox had expected.

It took a bit longer for the other two to reply, but after a few moments of silence Ardal slowly nodded his head in agreement. This, of course, left Maddox. He thought about the types of questions that could be asked in his head, contemplating on whether or not he wanted to even be asked some of them. As he thought and looked between the members of the group, he found himself wavering. How bad could the questions be, really? "Alright, sure." After all, it was his idea in the first place to play a game.

"Okay I'll go first, and don't worry I'll start off with an easy question," Nilly offered. "Rhay…who is your least favorite professor?"

The black-haired Gryffindor pursed her lips for a minute before answering. "I'm gonna have to go with Slughorn. He's just obnoxious. Really needs to get off his high horse a bit. I'd gladly kick him off if he needs some help."

The group nodded slowly in agreement. "Okay, so now it's your turn to ask someone else a question," Nilly said.

"Alright, um…Maddox," Rhay grinned. Maddox tried his hardest not to let his face show how nervous he was, but there was only so much a boy could do to control that. So, there was nothing he could do when his breathing stopped cold and his face went still. "What do you _really_ think of your house?"

The boy almost sighed with relief at her question. It wasn't a bad one, not really anyway. Hufflepuff was a great house, there wasn't much else to it. "I, personally, think it's great. It's relaxed. There's not a lot of rivalry or hatred, so that's comforting. Sometimes I think we need to stick up for ourselves, have a bit more house pride, but other than that I like it."

There was a pause in which the other three took in his words before Ardal spoke. "Seems well suited for you. I doubt I would be able to stand it, though. Too much 'pep' you guys have. I don't like peppiness."

"Kind of the most unique house when you think of it…it's the only one without rivalry," Nilly commented, and Maddox had to admit he was surprised his answer had sparked a conversation. "There's too much stress in Ravenclaw. Always the need for perfection."

"Better perfection than pride," Ardal muttered under his breath, but that didn't stop Rhay from hearing it.

"Hey! Gryffindors are proud of their pride!" she huffed and crossed her arms. It only took a few seconds for what she said to register, but when it did it caused a wave of light laughter throughout the small bunch. Even Rhay joined in. "So what if we're a bit proud of ourselves. There's only some who take it to an extreme."

It didn't take a genius to figure out she meant the Marauders on that one, but no one commented on it any further. Instead, Maddox took the following silence to think of a question for Ardal. It was only right that he chose to ask him a question, but what was there to ask? He didn't want to get too personal by asking about his family or whatnot, but that was about the only thing slightly known about the guy. Thinking about that, however, gave him an idea.

"Okay, so it's my turn now, right?" he didn't bother to wait for a response, "Ardal. What's your, uh, take on…muggleborns?" As he expected, the room seemed to become a deadly silent. Maddox looked towards Nilly, but she seemed to be very interested in the floral pattern of the flats she was wearing. It wasn't a surprise that she was avoiding looking at anyone. She was, after all, the only muggleborn in the room.

"I don't have a take on them," he stated, seemingly unfazed by the question. He was still seated casually on the dusty, old teachers desk with his arms bent against the wood, holding him in a slanted position. "They're people. They can be good, they can be bad. I don't share the general view of the Slytherins, but I honestly don't care enough to try and change their views either."

Throughout the answer, both Maddox and Rhay kept their eyes on Nilly to see her reaction. The whole time she kept her head bent down, eyes trained on her shoes. Her body sat motionless with her legs dangled over the edge of a desk. It took her a full half a minute after Ardal stopped talking to look up at him. It took another thirty seconds of staring into his eyes for a small, soft smile to spread across her features. Nothing was said throughout this exchange, but everyone in the room knew one thing: Ardal wasn't going to judge Nilly based off of her blood and she was grateful for it.

"NO! I'M NOT GOING OUT WITH YOU, POTTER!" the red-haired Lily Evans shouted, and it took all of her will power not push the boy into the lake behind him.

"Aw come on Lils…it's just to the Halloween Hogsmeade trip. You know you want to, Babe," James persisted. This time Lily didn't hold back. She took one step forward, placed her hands on the boy's chest (startling him slightly), and shoved him into the lake directly behind him. She was about to give a satisfied smirk and a wiping of the hands for a job well done when Potter grabbed onto her wrist and dragged her in with him. Together they created a large splash as they hit the cold water fully clothed.

Lily struggled for a moment under the water, flailing her arms in an attempt to get to the surface of the water. It wasn't that she was a bad swimmer, in fact she was usually quite a good one, but the combination of being caught off-guard and having heavy clothes weighing her down was working against her. She kicked her legs and pushed against the water with her arms until she finally was able to make it to the surface with a large gasp. It didn't take long for her head to spin around in search of the boy who dragged her in, and when she found the familiar face, her eyes hardened into a well deserved glare. Out of breath and tired, she swam to the edge of the grounds where a crowd had now gathered. She was angry and embarrassed. It was only supposed to have been Potter that fell into the water. Lily Evans was _not supposed to be standing on the grass drenched from head to toe and shivering._

_She huffed and clenched her teeth together, refusing to shiver, and walked over to the first friendly face she saw. Rhay Ponds had been one of the witnesses to the event, but she was a fellow sixth year Gryffindor. Certainly she could provide some support and comfort. After all, they'd always been friendly with each other. Occasionally they'd even had 'bonding moments', though those times were scarce, they had still happened. "Please," Lily muttered, "don't comment. Will you walk with me back to the common room?"_

_With pleading eyes, she looked at Rhay silently begging her to come along. Luckily, the girl smiled softly and took Lily's arm. Together they wordlessly walked away from the crowd of befuddled and amused students. The most confused of whom went by the name of James Potter._

"_You, um, okay?" Rhay asked as the two girls reached the fourth floor of the castle. By that time, she'd let go of Lily's arm and helped charm her clothes dry. To say the least, Lily was grateful for the girl's help._

"_Yeah," Lily responded shortly. "Just ticked off, but what else is new when Potter happens?"_

"_I suppose." There was a short silence that followed before Rhay spoke again. "But it was a good attempt. I don't think Potter really expected that to happen, and if it makes you feel any better I think he only grabbed on to you to stop himself from falling in."_

"_Well it didn't quite work out that way, did it?" Lily commented bitterly. "Sorry. I don't mean to take it out on you. I just wish he would leave me alone. That or grow up a bit."_

_They'd reached the seventh floor, and were almost to the common room when Rhay spoke again. This time her voice was soft, but serious instead of it's usual loud and playful. "I kind of think you both have a bit of growing up to do." Lily stopped in her tracks, not prepared for those words, but Rhay kept on moving. While Lily stood in the corridor, Rhay muttered the Gryffindor password and just continued on her way, not even bothering to look back._

"_Remember that one time last year when you screamed in the middle of Potions and dropped a vial on the ground? What caused that?"_

"_Um, the same thing that caused me to run out from behind the tapestry that night…a spider," Nilly admitted. Her cheeks grew hot with a blush, and she had a hard time looking at the other three. It'd been almost a week since the successful prank, and the group had been slowly growing closer. They met once a day, usually after dinner, and continued on with their game of Truth while mixing in some other fun._

_News of the incident at the lake had spread fast, and certain rumors (such as Lily had kissed James as they fell together) were set straight by Rhay…well at least for Nilly, Maddox, and Ardal, they were. She filled them in on the missed details, and even the conversation she'd had with Lily afterwards. The four didn't discuss the incident much after that._

"_Figures," Ardal rolled his eyes and shook his head._

"_What's that supposed to mean?" Nilly frowned and crossed her arms, staring daggers at the boy._

"_Nothing, nothing at all," he responding with a smirk playing on his lips._

"_Sure."_

"_Well I do believe it is your turn if I'm not mistaking."_

"_Fine," she smirked at him. "What did you mean when you said 'figures'?"_

"_Cheap shot," he muttered and shook his head, a small smile on his face all the same. "All I meant was that you're a wuss if something as small and insignificant as a spider scares you that much."_

_Nilly stuck her tongue out at Ardal, and pointedly looked the other way. "Your turn."_

"_Maddox," he started, acknowledging the other two in the room. "Why are you usually so quiet?"_

_The Hufflepuff shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it's because.. Well, I didn't exactly have many friends growing up. My parents tended to keep me secluded. They're not the most outgoing of people. I just…I don't know. I came here not knowing what it was like to be around other kids my age, and I guess it made me keep to myself."_

"_That's…I'm sorry," Nilly said genuinely. She knew what it felt like to have no friends, but at least she had some at one point._

"_Hey, look on the bright side…you're becoming more social now that you have us," Rhay smiled trying to be optimistic._

"_Thanks guys," he grinned. "I think it's time to go."_

_Sure enough, the clock on the wall stated that it was almost eleven. Curfew was at midnight, and there were classes the next day. Nilly, for one, needed to finish up some last minute homework before heading off to bed. She was the first one to push herself into a standing position. "You guys coming?" she looked behind her as the other three followed suit. She opened the door and looked both ways to make sure the coast was clear before signaling to the others that they could leave._

_It wasn't that any of them were embarrassed by their friendships with each other, but something kept them from putting it out in the open. The houses never really mingled much with each other. Especially Slytherin and Gryffindor. They didn't want to cause an uproar in the school by flaunting a little friendship. So they'd all agreed to keep it to themselves. Besides, the school can only handle one out of the ordinary thing at once, and to say the least the prank on the Marauders was just that._

_That being said, Rhay and Nilly didn't bother to hide their friendship as there was no need. After the group project in Charms, the two had partnered up in Defense as well. It would have been more unlikely that they weren't friends. Also, Rhay tended to join Nilly at the Ravenclaw table during meal times, giving the petite blond some company. So, as the group headed off to their respective houses, Rhay fell in step with Nilly. "You know, I kind of look forward to these meetings," Rhay spoke into the silence. "I mean, it's nice to get away from all the Gryffindor-ness that follows me around, you know? It's tiring being constantly surrounded by the same people, in the same house and the same classes everyday."_

"_I get it," Nilly smiled, and it was the truth. She, too, looked forward to meeting with the group, but for an entirely different reason. "It's nice having friends…from different houses, that is." She purposefully kept her eyes locked on the space ahead of her, hoping that Rhay didn't ask the one question she knew the girl was dying to ask. The one that she was almost certain she was about to ask that first day she sat with her during breakfast back in September._

_Luckily she seemed to sense Nilly didn't want to talk about it, and left the conversation at that. They walked the rest of the way to the seventh floor in silence. Not a single person seemed to be out that night, and Nilly didn't know if she was grateful for that or not._

_Halloween. It was Maddox's least favorite holiday to say the least. One would to think that he would love it, being a wizard, but truthfully he hated all the creepy noises and scary set ups wherever he walked. The worst part about this one was that it landed on a Hogsmeade weekend. He almost considered not going, but he remembered that his fathers birthday was in the first week of November. This was going to be his only chance to buy a gift. So reluctantly he found himself getting up Halloween morning and dressing himself warmly before heading off into the village._

_The streets were more crowded than usual and sales were being held at every corner. Maddox weaved in and out of the groups of people in search of a safe place when he came upon a book store. A large sign was taped to the door stating that in light of Halloween, all horror/mystery genre books were twenty percent off. Maddox smiled to himself knowing his father was a big fan of mysteries being an investigator for the Wizengamot. Something about being able to piece clues together excited his father, and he knew there was one book in particular the man was dying to read._

_A bell rang above the door as Maddox entered. He smiled at the smell of new books. It was to his great pleasure when he found there were no Halloween decorations surrounding the place. The old witch behind the desk grinned at him before asking if he needed some help. The Hufflepuff shook his head politely and continued on his way towards the mystery section. His fingers skimmed the titles before finding the one he'd been looking for. He examined the cover for a moment before tucking it under his left arm. Absentmindedly he headed towards the front of the store again, not paying attention as the bell of the door rang again followed by the old witch's same greeting._

_As he exited the isle he was in, his shoulder brushed passed another causing him to stumble slightly. "Sorry," he muttered as a soft voice said the same thing. He looked over to the person whom he bumped and saw a girl with short brown hair the flipped out on the ends near her shoulders, and honey colored eyes. A small blush appeared on her cheeks and she averted his gaze, apparently embarrassed by not paying attention to where she was walking. When she looked back at him, they both gave small, awkward smiles before shuffling off in their respective directions._

_After making his purchase and leaving the store Maddox couldn't take his mind off the girl. While it'd only been a fleeting moment in which they looked at each other, he felt something. He didn't know what, but he was sure of one thing-this was the best Halloween he's ever had._


	4. Chapter 4

**C H A P T E R 4**

Halloween

Once back at the school, Maddox dropped the book off in his dorm before heading to the shower. Tonight would be the traditional Halloween feast, something despite his dislike for the holiday Maddox always looked forward to. He loved the exuberant feeling that sifted through the air, and the food was always that much more delicious when cooked for a special occasion.

After his shower, Maddox crossed his legs on his bed and sat back against the headboard. He reached his hand back and pulled out an old, tattered book from underneath his pillow. The cover was faded, the title and author completely illegible, but he knew what it was anyway. He smiled sadly to himself as he looked at the cover. His finger brushed the rigid surface, but he didn't open the book. He didn't need to. How many times had he read it before? He knew the story forward and backward.

A family heirloom passed down from his mothers side, it was the only memory he had of her since she left when he was just four. It was at that time when he first showed signs of magic and his father confessed to being a wizard. The next morning she was gone. The only thing she left behind was that book. A first edition copy of _Robinson Crusoe_. Maddox had kept the book with him ever since he found that it'd been left behind.

Just then the door to the dormitory opened, and Maddox quickly shoved the book back under his pillow. Maddox's three roommates walked in goofing around as usual.

"Dude, she was hanging all over me," Amos Diggory, a tall, muscular blonde boy, said. He was practically flexing his biceps as he spoke. "We walked into Zonko's, and you know how they are with Halloween…all into it with decorations and stuff. Well, the moment we walked in a joker popped out of a giant box, scaring the shit out of her. She jumped into my arms, and then never let go. I'm telling you…give it a week and it'll be another one the list. Oh, hey Myson."

The boy smiled at his roommate knowing Amos was just being friendly. He and his roommates had never been friends. It wasn't that they didn't like him, none had a problem with him or anything, it was just that they never clicked. With Amos and the others being boisterous and rowdy, it just wasn't Maddox's type of crowd. At least not back in first year, and by now it was just too late to really try and create a friendship. Nevertheless, they did include him in things when he was around, and they were all polite to each other. "Hey," he responded with a short nod.

That was it. The boys seemed satisfied, and continued on with their conversation while Maddox stood up and headed towards the door. He walked down the stairs and through the common room without another second thought. It was an hour before the feast was to start, and the boy thought it best to just wander the halls for a bit. It was as he stepped onto the grand staircase that would lead him to the first floor that his mind wandered back to the girl in bookstore. An absent smile appeared on his face, and he found himself hoping to see her again. He tried to think of the girls name, but couldn't come up with it. He knew she went to school with him as she was definitely too young to be working in Hogsmeade, and it was an all wizarding community, so she wasn't a muggle. Plus, a small part of him knew he'd seen her around before. But where, he didn't know.

His continued to think about the girl until dinner time arrived, and he headed back towards the Great Hall. At the top of the grand staircase, he could easily see into the dining area. He smiled when he spotted the familiar pumpkins, and house ghosts floating about. He could hear the chatter of the happy students as they stuffed their faces with mashed potatoes and chicken breast. The main course had already begun.

Maddox headed straight towards the Hufflepuff table when he entered the hall, only to be stopped by a now familiar voice calling out to him. He turned around to see Rhay frantically waving her hands over her head at him. She never really got the whole secret friendship down. Nonetheless, it wasn't like it was a big deal for a Hufflepuff and Gryffindor to converse. Nor was it unlikely to see a Ravenclaw added into the mix; he smiled as he saw Nilly shyly sitting beside Rhay. As long as Ardal wasn't with them, no one would suspect a thing. For a moment, he stood there amidst the chatter debating on whether to accept the obvious invitation. The boy looked behind him at the Hufflepuffs, all immersed in conversation with each other, then back at the Gryffindors. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. So he pushed his feet forward, and took the seat opposite Nilly.

"Hi," he said, falling into his shyness as Nilly apparently had as well. She was obviously more outgoing than he was, but when it came to new situations, she was just like him. Preferring to keep to herself until she could warm up to the new atmosphere.

"Hey!" Rhay exclaimed, clearly hyped up by the Halloween feast. "Thought you might want some company for the holiday feast."

"Mm," was all he responded as his eyes caught sight of the subject of his thoughts for the past hour. The brown-haired girl sat just four people down from Rhay, happily conversing with Lily Evans. And that's when he knew where he'd seen her. She was often a part of Evans' crowd. However, he still couldn't think of her name

Rhay Ponds was quick on the uptake. As soon as she noticed Maddox's attention was somewhere other than with her and Nilly, she followed his gaze. He was staring, pretty obviously, at a Gryffindor girl. One in Rhay's year, and whom she actually knew fairly well. She smiled and looked back at Maddox, who looked as if he was trying too hard to think of something. "Why are you staring at Mary?" Rhay wasn't one to beat around the bush, and this question certainly captured his attention.

He immediately reddened and looked away. "What? Who?" he asked in quick succession.

"Mary? Mary MacDonald? You know…short brown hair, curled at the ends, pale skin…Mary," she smirked, resting her chin in her hand as she stared at the Hufflepuff. Oh he definitely had a crush.

"Oh, I uh…I wasn't staring."

"Sure you weren't."

"Really, I wasn't."

"Okay, I agree," Rhay had to bit down on her lower lip to stop from laughing. "You were just…observing."

"I wasn't," the boy persisted.

"Then what were you doing?" She raised an eyebrow in her signature way.

"I was…um…watching Sir Nicholas. He was, uh, showing off his nearly-headed-ness," Maddox stumbled over his words slightly, but Rhay had to admit it was a pretty good lie. She didn't believe it, though. For one thing, she knew Nick wasn't showing that off as their weren't disgusted gasps coming from the girls or clapping from the boys. And for another thing, she saw him staring at Mary.

"Whatever you say," she said, deciding to drop it for the time being. The food on her plate was calling to her, and she couldn't ignore it any longer. She dug her fork into some carrots and munched on the delicious vegetable. When she swallowed, she decided to change the subject. "Too bad Ardy couldn't be with us."

"I don't think he'd appreciate that name," Nilly commented quietly, though nobody was listening to them. It was too loud in there anyway.

"And that's why I'm giving it to him."

Nilly just shook her head, but Rhay saw a smile playing her face. "But really, you'd to think a snake could slither its way over unnoticed. Then again, Ardy's not very good at sneaking, I'm sure."

This time Nilly had to laugh, and even Maddox joined in for a split second. Rhay just grinned, and continued to eat her food. This feast was certainly an enjoyable one.

"Five…four…three…." Sirius Black was practically jumping with excitement as he counted down the seconds to their revenge prank. It had been set to go off on everyone as they, unfortunately, could not pinpoint the culprits to the prank on them. "Two…ONE!"

Four loud pops sounded above each houses table in the Great Hall as fine powder drifted down on top of everyone. It looked like pixy dust, but it was nothing of the sort. Sirius sniggered outside the doors of the Great Hall as he and the rest of the Marauders ducted down behind a tapestry. They weren't naïve enough to believe they wouldn't get caught as they were probably the only ones not in the Great Hall during the Halloween feast, but they wanted to at least witness a bit of their prank before being dragged off, and so they hid.

Collectively, the students in the Great Hall started to grunt and mutter to themselves as a powerful itch overwhelmed them. The powder had been created to make it seem like bug bites had spread over the skin of every person it touched, while the bits that didn't hit skin dissolved into thin air. Girls started to freak out as they itched every part of exposed skin, while boys clenched their fists in an attempt to overcome the urge to tear at their own. The teachers immediately took action, McGonagall at the head. They hurried to figure out what the problem was, while trying anti-itch charms on the kids.

None of them worked.

Laughter erupted from James and Sirius, while Remus and Peter chuckled more quietly. "WHERE ARE THOSE BOYS!" the commanding voice of Professor McGonagall sounded from within the Great Hall. Already, she had noticed their absence.

"Run!" James yelled, and the boys stood up from their place behind the tapestry and booked it towards the stairs. They didn't get far, however, as they ran into an invisible shield that send them tumbling back down the few steps they'd managed to get up. One by one, they looked up at the angry face of whom they expected to be Professor McGonagall. They collectively took a breath as they saw Professor Dumbledore instead. His face was stern, but there was the slight hint of a twinkle in his eyes. They would be dealing with him this time.

"Office," he muttered, pocketing his wand and thus removing the invisible shield. Obediently, the four boys stood up and followed their Headmaster up to his office. They did so quietly as they didn't dare disrespect him.

Once inside the circular room, the Headmaster conjured up four chairs, and they sat down. He paced for a few moments, his hands behind his back as he did so. "Boys," he started. "Now I understand you're need to be…mischievous, but do you realize the repercussions of the prank you just pulled?"

None of responded.

"As a result of your…itching powder, many of your fellow students will end up in the Hospital Wing with irritated skin, and gashes. Now I know you didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. I'm sure you didn't think an itching powder could do much damage, which as itself doesn't. But, the students end up doing harm to themselves by not being able to resist the itching. Do you understand?"

They all nodded solemnly.

"As a result of this prank you will be serving separate detentions for a month. On top of that, you will each write me a foot long essay on the consequences of not thinking through you're pranks thoroughly. I'm not going to stop you from pulling pranks, I know there is no point in trying, but I am warning you to think them through first. If another such incident occurs where my students end up in the Hospital Wing in such mass numbers, well, lets just say you won't be getting off so lightly."

The four Marauders all nodded their heads, accepting their punishment quietly. Never before had they had to deal with the Headmaster for a prank, and they knew it wasn't a good thing. None of them dared to speak or try to argue with the punishment.

"The essay is due to me in one week, and do not attempt to get Mr. Lupin here to write them all for you. That is all. You may see yourselves out."

They stood up and walked out of the room, their heads bowed slightly as they walked out of the door and down the stairs. However, as soon as the Headmaster's office, and the gargoyles guarding it were behind them, Sirius grinned. "Sorry, but that prank was still awesome!"

"Oh, I know! Padfoot, did you see Rhay Ponds? She was seething, I tell you! I'd watch out for her if I were you. Remember what happened last time," James responded with a smirk.

"Don't remind me. I don't appreciate being tackled by girls…unless its in bed."

"Will you two just listen to yourselves?" Remus sighed, somewhat irritated. "Did you not just listen to Professor Dumbledore? You know, I could have lost my prefects badge back there. I'm lucky I didn't. And there are students in the Hospital Wing! Really. James, we could have sent Lily there. Do you really think that's going to help your case with her? And Sirius, you're brother could be in there. I know you two don't really get along that well, but I know you still care about him. But here you are laughing it off and joking around like-"

"Okay Moony, we get it," Sirius said quickly, his voice raised slightly to get the boy to stop talking. "I said I was sorry. We won't let one of our pranks hurt anyone again, okay? It's not like we did it on purpose anyway."

"I know," Remus relented. "Sorry."

"Good, now lets just head back to the dorm…we've got a whole month of detentions ahead of us…yippee!"

Ardal was still itching slightly when he walked into the empty classroom. He gritted his teeth as he thought about the Marauders and their stupid prank. He knew they had it coming, but itching powder? Really? His arms were turning red from all the itching, and that was pretty minor compared to some people. He was able to resist digging at his own skin to stop it. Luckily, they'd had enough sense to make it short lasting. It was powerful enough that the half hour the itching lasted was enough for a prank.

As he took his seat on top of the old desk, the door opened and in came Rhay and Maddox. The latter seemed to have more raw skin than Ardal did, but Rhay actually had a few spots of broken skin. Ardal bit down on his tongue, bracing himself for Rhay's outburst that was sure to come.

Only it didn't come. Instead, the girl appeared to be so angry that she'd hit a calm, and when she spoke it was low, but filled with seething emotion. "Those boys are gonna get it," she practically growled. Ardal only nodded his head in response. He, too, had been thinking about getting them back. A taste of their own medicine again might do them some good.

"They're just going to continue to prank the entire school if we prank them back again," Maddox pointed out.

"Yeah, but even if we didn't they'd still prank the school," Rhay countered. "Besides, if we don't their heads are just going to get more inflated than they already are. They'll think they won, which they will if we don't counteract them."

"True."

"Hey," Ardal spoke up with a small frown playing on his face. "Where's Nilly?"

Somewhat shocked by Ardal's question, it took Rhay a moment to answer. "Hospital Wing. Her arms are pretty badly, well, for lack of a better word, scratched." The frown deepened on Ardal's face, but almost as soon as it did, he brought his expression back to neutral. "Are you…concerned?"

_Don't sound so shocked, he thought to himself and resisted rolling his eyes. But as he thought about it, it was better not to let Rhay know he actually had a heart. He'd never live it down. "No. I was just wondering since you two usually arrive together, that's all."_

"_Whatever," she muttered, still giving him a skeptical look. He just stared right back at her until she looked away. "Anyway, she'll be out in a few hours. There are a lot students there, some looking worse than her, and let me tell you…that's saying a lot. But she won't be out before curfew, so we'll have to talk to her tomorrow."_

_Wincing in pain, Nilly bit down on her lower lip to stop involuntary tears from falling from her eyes. Both her arms and part of her neck were practically scratched away in places where globs of the powder had landed. Apparently the more itching powder that landed in one place, the itchier the skin was, and so many students ended up in the same position Nilly found herself in. Sitting on a bed in the Hospital Wing getting a skin repairing balm rubbed on the spots where the skin had been broken and torn. It stung._

_She swung her legs back and forth over the side of the bed, counting to high numbers in her head as a distraction from the burning sting of the balm. She was in the second group to get treated. Across from her were a few Hufflepuffs, and a younger Ravenclaw. Down the Hospital a bit, Lily Evans and her friend, Alice, sat patiently waiting for their turn. It seemed like they were a bit better at handling pain than Nilly herself was._

"_Alright, it'll take about five minutes for the balm to fully restore your skin and for the burning to stop. As soon as that happens, you may leave. I'm going to need the bed, sorry," Madame Pomfrey stated, handing her a pass, before moving on to the next person._

_A few minutes of deep breathing later, the pain started to subside greatly, and Nilly's skin felt brand new. She grinned before pushing herself off the Hospital bed, and all but skipped through the doors. She maneuvered her way through the dozens of students still waiting, and up the stairs. She was just getting on to the fourth floor when she noticed someone up ahead. She frowned to herself momentarily, it was almost curfew. Most students were smart enough to already be in their houses by now, or at least close to them with only minutes to spare. It was probably a prefect._

_She sighed somewhat relieved at the thought, gripping the pass in her hand a bit tighter, ready to show the person when she squinted her eyes and recognized who it was. Ardal. He must have just left the abandoned classroom and was heading back to Slytherin. She stopped walking a few meters away, unsure if she should say hi or just continue on walking like he wasn't there. It wasn't like there was anyone around to see a friendly exchange between the two, but there was always the possibility of someone being out of bed after hours, or even one of the students who'd been in the Hospital Wing. She should just pretend she didn't see him, so she started to walk again only to be stopped seconds later._

"_Hey," Ardal's voice drifted towards her. He was only feet away now when he stopped walking as well. "You, um, okay?"_

_Nilly almost gaped at the boy, surprised by not only his acknowledging her in a public area, but actually asking her if she was okay. "Um, yeah," she recovered quickly. "Madame Pomfrey does a great job."_

"_Yeah, she usually does," the boy nodded his head slowly. She could practically see the wheels in his brain whirling to a quick stop as he realized exactly what he was doing. "Well, see you tomorrow."_

_He walked off without a glance back. Nilly stood frozen on the spot for a few moments, watching him walk away before shaking her head. The awkward encounter was done. She suddenly felt the need to just curl up in her bed and get a good nights sleep. Thank Merlin tomorrow was Sunday._


	5. Chapter 5

**C H A P T E R 5**

November

A week had passed since the itching powder incident. Nilly and Ardal had barely spoken a word to each other since. It seemed the moment of caring from Ardal was a onetime thing, and Nilly didn't press it. Truthfully, it sort of unsettled her a bit. She had been completely caught off guard when it had happened, and it seemed Ardal had been surprised by himself, as well. She thought about it a lot over the days, but never spoke of it. Not to Rhay, not to Maddox, and it wasn't like she had anyone else to confide in. It wasn't even like she had them to confide in. Sure, they were friends that much was obvious, but she didn't know how much she could trust them. She barely knew them, truthfully.

As she walked into the Great Hall on the first Sunday in November for breakfast, she automatically headed for the Ravenclaw table. It was fairly early still, and there weren't many students eating breakfast yet. She sighed to herself. She wasn't really that hungry, so she poured herself a glass of orange juice, and grabbed a piece of toast. She nibbled on the edges as she took out the latest copy of the Daily Prophet. Absentmindedly, she flipped through the pages not paying much attention to the headlines until she spotted the word 'muggle' in one of them. Her interest was sparked, but before she could begin to read the article, she felt a body slide onto the bench beside her, followed by two more across. She looked up in surprise, then frowned when she saw who it was. Terry Underway sat next to her, a smirk playing on her lips. Across her sat Heidi King, and Meaghan Pearce.

"Hello," Terry greeted her, dragging out the 'o' a bit too much for Nilly's liking. The girl rested her left elbow on the table, and almost to casually leaned her chin into her hand. Her long, silky black hair flowed down her arm, the tips skimming the tabletop.

"What do you want?" Nilly asked suspiciously, subconsciously leaning her own head away from Terry.

"Well, we were talking," she said in a sickly sweet voice, gesturing with a nod of her head over to the other girls. "And we decided to forgive you."

Nilly narrowed her eyes as the girl beside her, not buying the statement. That didn't stop the pang at her heart, though. She ignored it, and any sign of hope that went along with it, and just stared at the girl.

"We know this is a hard time for you. I mean with you being a muggleborn, and this whole Dark wizard on the loose. You're frightened. We understand," she continued on, and my frown deepened. "What were the words?" She looked to her two companions.

"-I'm scared for my mother and father. They don't know what danger they're really in. This wizard is dangerous, attacking muggles at random. What if they're next? I can't even think about it-"

Where Heidi stopped, Meaghan picked up. "-I wish I had my friends again. I wish I had someone to confide in. All my fears and thoughts. Someone I can completely trust. I miss how it used to be. Back when we were all friends, Terry, Heidi, Meaghan, and I-"

"-Sometimes I just want to give up. What's the point in being here anymore? I throw myself into my work, and all I get in return is a pat on the back. It's not enough to replace friendship. I know Rhay tries to be my friend, but I secretly think she's only acting out of pity. Same with the other two. Do they really even want me around? Do I bug them? Am I just a charity case?-" The smirk on Terry's face widened.

"Shut up," Nilly muttered. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Hot, angry tears threatened to spill from Nilly's eyes. She pushed herself up from her seat, and ran out of the Great Hall. The paper, her drink, and toast, completely forgotten. She could hear the three girls' laughter behind her, and even when she was out of earshot, she could hear them. Taunting. She pushed the great oak doors open, and stepped outside. The cold winter air stung her cheeks, but did nothing to stop the tears from flooding her eyes and pouring down her face. She clapped a hand to her mouth as she sobbed hard and loud. She took off at a run again. She didn't know where she was going, but she just needed to get away. All the insecurities she had, they knew. Everything she'd written in her diary, they'd read. The words she'd written in confidence in the one thing she thought she could unconditionally trust, they'd quoted. She'd thought her diary was safe. She thought she'd charmed it well enough so they wouldn't be able to read it again. She was wrong.

Collapsing onto the dead grass, Nilly brought her knees to her chest. She couldn't stop the tears. She couldn't control her breathing. She could do nothing but sit there and cry.

Ardal stopped walking as he reached the Entrance Hall. A shout came from inside the Great Hall quickly followed by the sound of running footsteps. He shrugged his shoulders, and made to continue on his way, when the source of the commotion came out of the Great Hall. He could hear the sound of sobbing over the footsteps, but that wasn't what made him stop again. No, it was the fact that he knew who it was. The wavy blond hair was distinct. It was Nilly. He watched her, expressionless, as she pushed the doors of the school open and ran out into the cold air. His eyes followed her until the doors blocked his view, and even as they did he didn't look away.

"Hey! TeGailey," an irritating voice pulled him out of his revere. "What are you doing?"

He turned his head slowly to the owner of the voice, and just nodded his head towards the door. "You might want to go out there."

"Wh-"

"Willis just ran out there. I think she was crying." Rhay frowned deeply, giving him a questioning look. He simply raised his eyebrows, and that was all it took. The Gryffindor took off, out of the school in search of their Ravenclaw friend.

Ardal didn't let himself think anything more of the incident, pushing all thoughts to the back of his mind. Instead he walked into the Great Hall like he'd originally planned. He vaguely noticed three Ravenclaw girls laughing with each other, but quickly shoved that to the back of his mind as well. Right now all he wanted or needed to worry about was food. So, he just took his usual seat at the Slytherin table and piled his plate. As he was pouring himself some pumpkin juice, a group of fellow sixth year Slytherin's took their seats around him.

"…so my father wrote to me, saying a lot of the pureblooded families are behind this guy. Families like the Malfoys, the Blacks, the Lestranges, and…oh, the TeGaileys," Avery looked right at Ardal. He didn't show any sign of hearing the boy. He continued to chew on his food for a moment before swallowing.

"Your point?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at the kid.

"Well, do you know anything?" It was Kara Zabini who answered, a petite, pale girl with curly black hair. She was a pretty girl, but most of the boys didn't take her seriously. She tended to try too hard to be mean.

Ardal shrugged his shoulders with an expression that told the group they weren't going to get anything from him, even if he did know something. Truthfully, he knew very little. All his parents had told him was he was expected to follow this new dark wizard, as they supported him with money. He didn't plan on it. From what he'd read in the papers, he didn't think he could follow him, but he didn't think he could resist him either. What the man and his followers did with their time, wreaking havoc and attacking at random-it wasn't his style.

Neither was resisting.

If he had anything to do with it, Ardal was going to leave as soon as he got out of school. Leave his house, leave this country. He knew there was bound to be trouble in other countries as well, but other countries didn't have his parents. Other countries didn't have expectations for him. Other countries didn't know him. Just two years and he'd be rid of his overbearing mother and his hot-headed father. They might be embarrassed at first, but given time they'll forget they even had a son. All they cared about was reputation just like many of the other pureblood families. Reputation, money, and power. Ardal didn't care about his reputation, nor did he really care for power. Money was a different story, but more than just purebloods love money.

The conversation continued around him, but Ardal tuned it out. He finished with his breakfast quickly and got up without another word. As he left the Great Hall, his eyes were immediately drawn to the great oak doors. Rhay and Nilly were still out there. The doors hadn't opened since he sat down for breakfast. Part of him, a very small part, was curious. So curious that he momentarily stopped and considered going out there. He quickly pushed away the thought, and walked away. It seemed like as good a time as ever to go to the library.

Rhay linked her arm with Nilly's as they walked back into the school. After spending half an hour outside in the cold November air, both girls were shivering. Neither had a jacket, or really anything to keep them warm, on. "Come on," she said, pulling Nilly forward. The other girl tried stop, but Rhay was too strong. So, she was reluctantly forced to follow.

Together they walked into the Great Hall, which was considerably more crowded than before, and headed straight towards the Ravenclaw table. The three girls were still there, laughing and seemingly having a good time. Well, Rhay was surely going to put a stop to that. She smirked to herself, letting go of Nilly as they reached the small group. None of the girls looked up as they arrived, too absorbed in their own conversation. Rhay took advantage of this, and shoved herself into Terry as she sat down. "Whoops, sorry. Didn't see you there," she gave a faux apologetic look.

Terry looked murderous as her left hand knocked over a flask of orange juice, spilling over the edges of the table right next to her. "Watch yourself Pon-"

"Me? I said sorry, didn't I? You know, that small five letter word you say when you hurt someone or someone's feelings. Or is that not in your vocabulary? I don't really speak cold-hearted bitch, so you'll have to excuse me." This time Rhay allowed herself to smirk with satisfaction as Underway's jaw dropped, and a glare hardened on her face. "Really not a good look for you, Hon. I can already see the wrinkles forming on your forehead. Bit early, don't ya think?"

Terry's hand immediately shot up to her forehead, but she continued to glare. After checking for wrinkles, she brought her hand up in the air and made to smack Rhay on the face. However, a hand caught her wrist and stopped the motion. Both girls looked towards the owner of the hand, and gasped. "You don't want to do that," the person said. Terry huffed lightly and stood up, her two friends following, and stormed out of the Great Hall. Rhay just gawked at the person in front of her, and even Nilly seemed to be speechless.

"This is where you thank me…" a smirking Sirius Black said. Rhay opened and closed her mouth several times, not seeming to be able to get the words out, as she stared up at him.

"Thank you," Nilly answered for her.

"Well I was really looking for the sentiment to come from Ponds over here, but I suppose I'll have to accept it from you. She's too busy looking like a fish out of water to say anything, it seems."

That was all it took for Rhay to find her voice again. "For your information, I didn't need your help. I could have pummeled that bitch easy."

"And what good would that have done? You'd probably be sharing your detentions with one of us," he nodded over to the Gryffindor table where his friends sat.

"So? I can handle a detention or two. And McGonagall's not stupid enough to put me in the same detention as you, so it wouldn't have really mattered."

"Well then, I apologize for keeping you from being slapped. How's that?"

"Apology accepted." Rhay smiled innocently up at him as she stood up, taking Nilly by the arm again, and leaving the Great Hall. A dumbfounded Sirius left behind.

Once out in the Entrance Hall Nilly stopped walking. Rhay looked at her with a curious glance, but the girl kept her head down. "Thanks," she muttered, barely audible. "I mean, for that…in there."

"Very articulate, aren't you?" Rhay joked, and Nilly looked up at her long enough to show the small smile playing on her lips. "Really, though, it was nothing. If anything, it was fun. I never really liked her anyway. Too snooty, if you ask me; takes the whole being smart thing to a new level."

The two girls laughed lightly. "But, uh, if I were you I'd get rid of the journal."

"I know."

Maddox still couldn't get Mary out of his mind. He'd begun to notice her in classes. She was timid in her movements, only answering questions that she was sure of her answer. She had yet to be wrong. Her best friend was Lily Evans, another sixth year Gryffindor, and she was friendly with Rhay. Though he studied her in as least creepy of a way as possible, he hadn't gotten the nerve to talk to her. In fact, he hadn't even been able to figure out what his attraction to her was. Something inside him flutters at the sight of her, at the thought of her.

Now, as Maddox sat in his common room on that Sunday afternoon, he didn't have time to think about Mary anymore. The pile of work he had left over from Friday was monstrous. So he had his Charms, DADA, and Potions books in front of him as he wrote 3 separate essays. It took him a good few hours, and when he was finally done his ink bottle was only a quarter full, and his hand was cramped to an incredible degree. However, he still had one last piece of work to do. Astronomy.

His stomach growled, and he looked at the clock. It was just about dinner time. He had a bit of time before it would be dark enough to do his star chart, and so he packed up his finished work and brought it up to his room. There he grabbed his winter cloak and his star chart before heading down to dinner. When he arrived in the Great Hall, there was no Rhay or Nilly. He spotted Ardal at the Slytherin table, but that wasn't helpful. So he took a seat at the Hufflepuff table, and piled food onto his plate. He hadn't really eaten since breakfast, only a few snacks while he wrote his essays.

He ate slowly, savoring his food and dreading the star chart he had to do. If there was one class that he struggled in more than any other it was Astronomy.

Half an hour later, Maddox was walking up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower. Darkness had fallen by that time, and luckily for him there was only one cloud in the sky. When he reached the top of the tower, he stopped in his tracks. In front of him was the one girl he couldn't get out of his mind. Mary. He contemplated turning around and coming back at a later hour, but before he could make that decision she turned around.

"Hi," she smiled his way.

"Hi," he replied quietly, walking up to a telescope a few away from hers.

They were both quiet for a minute, while Maddox got out his star chart and marked the first two stars. Before he could mark the third, Mary spoke again. "Don't I know you from somewhere? I mean, besides from class?" she started. "Oh, you're the boy I bumped into at the bookstore last weekend, right? I'm Mary, by the way."

"Maddox," he responded, pretending he didn't already know who she was. He didn't know what else to say. He was intimidated by her, he didn't want to make a fool of himself. So, he kept his mouth closed.

"I've seen you in a couple of my classes; you're a Hufflepuff if I'm not mistaken. I, myself, am a Gryffindor," she blushed slightly and pointed to her cloak which was embroidered with the Gryffindor emblem and trimmed in red. Maddox nodded his head, and gave a small smile. His mind was frozen, and he could feel his cheeks getting warm with embarrassment as he continued to be mute. "Anyway, I'll shut up now. Let you get back to your work."

Blushing madly, Maddox turned to his telescope, feeling the urge to bang his head against it at his stupidity. He tried to ignore his thoughts and focused on marking the stars down on his chart, but he continually found himself looking over at Mary. She seemed to have gotten over the fact that he had barely spoken a word back to her after rambling on herself, but then again Maddox wasn't great at reading people. He took notice of how the wind blew her hair into her face, causing her to frequently pause and tuck it behind her ear. Unconsciously, he smiled before shaking his head and turning back to his work. He had to focus, but that was easier said than done.

After a half hour of silence, Mary spoke again. "I'm sorry for bothering you again; I just can't find this one star. Do you think you could help me for a minute?" She smiled politely, and Maddox couldn't say no. Though he knew the chances of him being able to find the star were slim, he never denied helping someone out. Especially if that someone just happened to be the girl he's falling for.

"Sure." He walked over to her telescope and looked through it. "Which one are you trying to find?"

"Um, Adhara." He was slightly surprised by this, as he knew this star to be in the same constellation as Sirius, and almost everyone could find Sirius in the night sky. However, he didn't question it and quickly found it. He centered the telecope on it and moved to the side for her to look. "Thank you!"

"No problem," he said, and went back to his own telescope. He was barely able to get a look through it before Mary spoke again.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," she waved goodbye as she made her way to the staircase. She paused at the door, and said, "I'll see you around, Maddox."

Mary made her way back to Gryffindor tower with a small smile. She'd finally gotten to talk to the boy from the bookstore, though it wasn't really so much of a conversation she did at least get his name. Her talkative personality kept her babbling on while he just smiled and nodded. No doubt he was just being polite. Now that she thought about it, she was sure she had scared him. She had been way too straightforward, almost pushy; desperate for conversation that was for sure. Still, she did get him to help her locate a star. Of course she'd already known where the star was, and if he'd looked at her chart he would have noticed that she'd already marked it down. But he hadn't, and that was what mattered.

She gave the password to the Fat Lady and walked into the Gryffindor common room. There she found the Marauders huddled in a corner with their heads together, a few third years finishing up homework, and Rhay. She smiled and bounced over to her fellow seventh year Gryffindor. "Hey Rhay," she took a seat on the couch next to her.

"Hi," Rhay smiled back. "What's up?"

"Not much," Mary paused for a moment. "You're friends with that Hufflepuff, right? Maddox."

"Yeah, why?" A hint of smirk could be seen on Rhay's face, but Mary took no notice.

"Oh, um nothing I just ran into him on the Astronomy Tower. I'd actually bumped into him on Halloween at the bookstore, but I didn't know his name then. Anyway, that's not important. Yeah, I was just wondering."

"Okay," Rhay said suspiciously. "He's single."

"Oh, good," Mary sighed, before quickly recovering. "I mean um, really? That's interesting. Why do I need to know that?"

"Just thought you'd like to. You know, in case you happen to crush on him."

"Ha," was all Mary could come up with. "Well, I guess I'll head off to bed now. See you in the morning."

"Yeah, see ya."


	6. Chapter 6

**C H A P T E R 6**

November

"I think we're safe. I think we showed them who is boss," Sirius muttered over and over while sitting on the end of his four-poster bed. James was lying on his back lazily flicking his wand at the ceiling. He was creating small, ghostly figures appear above him, and making them fight to the death. It provided only a little bit of entertainment as he listened to Sirius trying to convince himself that they were safe. None of the Marauders believed that Sirius believed himself, but they let him continue his mutterings.

James sighed, giving a last flick of his wand, getting rid of all the ghostly images, before sitting up. He looked over to Remus who was busy scribbling, down what James assumed was homework, onto a lengthy piece of parchment. "Reeemuuus," James called to his friend in a girly tone, successfully getting the boys attention. Lupin looked over to him, raising his eyebrows and rolling his eyes. "Have you talked to a Miss-"

"No," Remus cut James off before he could even finish his statement.

"But you don't even know who I'm talking about!" James huffed and crossed his arms.

"Lily Evans." It was, in fact, whom James was referring to, but he didn't want to give Remus the satisfaction of knowing that. So he did what any 16-year-old boy would do in this situation, he turned the subject over to the girl of Remus' affections. Only problem was, he didn't know who that girl was, and so he guessed.

"No, actually I was going to ask you about Mary."

"Mary? MacDonald? Why?" Remus asked, genuinely confused. James, however, was going to roll with it.

"Oh, cause, you know, she's Mary." James looked away from Remus innocently whistling to no one in particular.

"You're strange."

"I prefer the term eccentric."

"Why?"

"Because it sounds better than strange. Go on, say eccentric, then say strange. You tell me which of the two sounds better?" James was easily distracted.

"No."

"Say it."

"No."

"Say it! Come on."

"Will it get you to shut up?" James nodded his head vigorously with a goofy smile on his face. "Fine. Eccentric. Strange. I see no difference."

"Well then, you're strange."

"I accept that fact and move on," Remus replied, going right back to his parchment. The dorm was silent for almost two whole minutes before James couldn't take it anymore. Sirius had stopped his muttering and was playing a game of gobblestones with Peter in the corner, while Remus continued his writing. Was there no room for poor James?

"Let's go do something!" James announced, standing up from his bed rather quickly. The blood rushed out of his head, and dizziness took over him momentarily. He swayed on the spot before sitting back down, slowly. None of his friends stirred, and when his mind came back to him James frowned at each of his so-called best friends. "Hello? Did you guys not hear me? I'm bored. Let's go find Snivellus or something."

"James, we ignored you," Sirius said bluntly, not even looking up from his game. It didn't take a genius to see the hurt on James' face. He knew Sirius didn't mean anything by it, but he couldn't help but feel slightly disheartened.

"What Sirius means is that, you may be bored, but we have detention in an hour for the prank we pulled. There's no point in doing something other than homework before." Remus always knew how to save a conversation.

"Ok," James said in a defeated tone. He sighed and lay down on his bed. He might as well just take a nap before the torture.

"Professor, do you really think this is necessary? It was just one assignment. I'll make it up; I'll even add on another half a foot of parchment if you want."

"I'm sorry Miss Ponds, but I specifically told the class as I assigned the work that it was handed in on time or there will be a detention to serve. Now, since four of your housemates already have detention, you will have to share with one of them. I'll give you a choice, weeding the Greenhouses by hand or polishing the trophies in the Trophy Room," Professor McGonagall said. Rhay inwardly groaned as neither detention was ideal. At first thought the trophy polishing sounded like the lesser of the two evils, but Rhay knew how many trophies there were in that room and it would take hours even with an extra set of hands to help out. Weeding, on the other hand, always sounded bad.

"I'll take the trophies." McGonagall just nodded her head and told Rhay to be at the Trophy Room at eight o'clock. Rhay sighed, but said no more. She walked out of the Transfiguration classroom and headed to the abandoned one. When she arrived at the room, the rest of the gang was already there.

"You look pissed," commented Ardal.

"Thank you Captain Obvious."

"Just saying."

"What's wrong?" asked Nilly with genuine interest.

"Detention."

"Well that was your own fault," Ardal said. He had been in the classroom when she was asked to stay behind, and so he already knew the reason why.

"Oh shut up Ardy."

"Shut up, who?" Ardal sneered. It was one of the few times Rhay had seen any emotion come from him, but her mood didn't allow her to savor the moment.

"Ardy, short for Ardal, thought you would like the name. I know how much you just love pet names," she smirked at him.

"Right. Stop taking your anger out on the rest of us. It just makes you sound like a whiny, bitter bitch."

"Well at least I have some emotions Mr. I-Don't-Give-A-Damn-About-Anyone-Or-Anything. Maybe you should try to have some emotion and then you wouldn't be hated by everyone! You act like you don't need anyone, but everybody needs somebody. There's no point living a life without friends." Rhay's voice gradually became weaker as she spoke, her anger dissipating in that one rant. The fight had turned into something completely different without her even realizing it. It wasn't about the detention anymore, or even about her. The fight became about Ardal, not because she wanted to insult him, but because she had actually grown to care about the Slytherin boy.

In the seconds that followed, Rhay look at the three faces in the room. Nilly sat on top of the old teachers desk, her eyes wide in shock. She had paused in the middle of tying up her shoe to watch the argument. Her untied laces hung lazily from the standard black shoe with her fingers frozen in mid-air. It was as if she had been petrified, but the light gasp that escaped her mouth told Rhay otherwise.

Maddox, who had been leaning against the far window, wasn't even looking their way. Rhay could see how hard he was trying to keep his eyes trained on the outside world. He didn't want to be a part of this; he didn't even what to be witnessing this. Rhay wouldn't be surprised to learn that Maddox had actually backed away a few feet since the beginning of the fight.

But it was Ardal whose figure her eyes landed on in the end. His face had turned back to its default stony face. Nothing could be seen behind his rigid eyes. Not a tiny hint of emotion crossed his face; the only thing that was different was the atmosphere. Tension drifted down upon the group. No one dared to speak, no one dared to move. The seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes dragged on. Rhay watched Ardal carefully, waiting for the anger to burst from him, but it never did. In fact, he was the first one to break the silence but it was not in retort.

"So, I think I know what we could do for the prank." That was it. Not a word about what Rhay had said. It wasn't a submission to her words, but it wasn't denial either. It was a simple change of subject, as if the words she had spoken were just a part of another boring conversation.

Yet, everyone went along with it. Over the next hour they discussed Ardal's idea and formulated a plan. It was only when Rhay announced that she had to get to her detention that they decided to disperse. Ardal was the last one to leave, but Rhay didn't have the time to stay behind and apologize. She wasn't even sure she wanted to apologize. Was there any reason to? She had only been speaking the truth, but she couldn't put behind her the feeling that her words had stung a lot more than Ardal was willing to show.

He didn't care. He didn't care. Ardal repeated those words to himself as he walked away from the abandoned classroom. Rhay Ponds could think whatever she liked, but Ardal didn't need anyone. He was better off on his own. For six years now, he kept mostly to himself, only conversing with others when necessary. He didn't both to become close with his housemates, though multiples have tried (with the last name TeGailey, it wasn't surprising). His parents were always telling him what to do, what to believe, and how to act; he'd never had a chance to think for himself. So when school came around, he figured friends would just end up doing the same thing. They would tell him who to be friends with, who to tease, and who to date. Well, Ardal didn't want that. He wanted to be his own person, to think for himself, and to be only for himself. Some might call that selfish, but Ardal didn't care. Let other people believe what they want to believe.

But a tiny part of him sparked when Rhay said those things. He didn't know why or even what it meant, and so he did his best to push it away. Ardal TeGailey didn't care, but no matter how many times he told himself that a part of him still felt differently. He meandered through the hallways, thinking about why. But it didn't take a genius to figure it out. Ardal knew that he was actually starting to have feelings towards the group he'd been meeting with for months. While he told himself it was for the sole purpose of getting back at those stuck-up Gryffindors, he knew otherwise. He'd even shown the others that he cared, slightly, on the night of the itching powder incident. Nilly had been especially hurt by the stuff, and Ardal had to know that she was okay. That was why he had been in the halls so late at night; it was the reason for the awkward encounter between the two.

Ardal shook his head of his thoughts. Now was not the time to be thinking of such things; he was nearing the Slytherin common room. He took a deep breath and put on his emotionless face, said the password, and stepped in. But what he stepped into was nothing like he expected. The common room was chaotic. Slytherins were talking at high speeds in low whispers. There were third years through seventh years all scattered about. Everyone was in their own little group, but together the groups made a whole. They were all talking about the same thing, and Ardal had a strong feeling that he knew what it was.

"…brutal. The filth have no idea…"

"…heard the house was completely demolished, and of course there wasn't a trace of what actually…"

"Lestrange." At the sound of a familiar name, Ardal turned towards the source of the voice. He was met with the face of seventh year Narcissa Black. She was talking to the other seventh year girls, a knowing smirk on her face and it didn't take a genius to figure out that she knew more than the papers were saying. Though it wasn't surprising anyway, she was the younger sister of Bellatrix to-be-Lestrange.

"Which Lestrange?" one of her companions asked, and Ardal strained his ear to overhear.

"Rudolphus, Bella's fiancé. My sister sent me a letter saying that he had joined some group, the Death Eaters. I guess they're like His followers, the ones that actually have contact with him. Anyway, she was telling me that she was next in line to join, and that Dolph's first 'test' was coming up. This was a few days ago, so it's kind of obvious, right?" The girls muttered their agreements, and Ardal moved on. He stopped near the entrance to the boys' dormitory only when he heard his name being called. Turning to the person, he saw Avery ushering him over. He had no choice but to oblige.

"Yes?" he asked as he reached his fellow sixth years.

"Do you know anything about what happened? I mean, besides the basics. Because I heard-"

"No."

"Bu-"

"You asked, I said no. AKA I don't know anything more than you guys and what I've heard since being here." Ardal was already bored with the conversation; honestly all he wanted to do was go up to his room. He didn't need to concern himself with the trivial matters of his fellow, though he knew that it wasn't only his housemates who were going to be talking about this. Instead of getting up to his room, however, Ardal was trapped into conversation with the boys. It was a full hour later when he was finally able to sneak away. As he settled on his bed, Ardal's mind went back to the fight. Maybe he shouldn't have left the common room after all.

The Trophy room was a joke of a detention. Sirius had cleaned the room so many times that he knew the spots where each trophy in the room got especially dirty. He also knew that McGonagall on ever swept her eyes over the trophies, never looking to see exactly how clean they were. Basically he planned on having Peter do most of the work, and only sweep his rag across the tops.

When the two of them reached their destination, however, they were shocked to find that another would be joining them. A sour-faced Rhay stood with her arms crossed in front of the door to the Trophy room. She gave them a disgusted look before entering. Sirius smirked back at her, following closely behind. McGonagall had left them three buckets of water and rags. A note lay next to them instructing that since there were three of them there would be enough time to wash the floor as well. Sirius emitted a low groan from the back of his throat that sounded more like a growl.

"What? Don't have enough muscle to scrub a floor?" Rhay rolled her eyes, but Sirius just smirked.

"Actually, darling, I have too much muscle to subject myself to the easy task of scrubbing a floor."

Rhay didn't respond, and that only made Sirius smirk wider. The three of them each grabbed a rag and began to wipe clean the trophies. It was silently decided that the floor be done last considering they were just walking on it while cleaning the trophies. There was only a minute or two of silence before Sirius couldn't take it anymore. He started to hum; off-key and very loudly to some obscure wizarding band. He swayed his head back and forth to the music in his head as he wiped down trophy after trophy.

"Can you stop that, please?" Rhay asked through gritted teeth. Sirius knew the 'please' was forced, but he respected it regardless.

"Certainly, Madam, whatever you wish," he gave her a low bow before turning back to his work. "But…if I can't hum, dance, or whistle…I am assuming you would not like me to whistle either…then you must engage me in some enlightening conversation."

Rhay gave him a look that clearly said he was an idiot, but sighed all the same. "Fine, what would you like to talk about?"

"How about…dinosaurs?"

"Dinosaurs?"

"Yes, that is what I said. You know, those prehistoric beasts who roamed the Earth long before any human did. Dinosaurs," Sirius explained. He'd always secretly loved dinosaurs; well the idea of them anyway. He wished he could have been around with them. It would have been awesome to be a dinosaur trainer. Way better than any dragon trainer; at least he assumed. The idea probably appealed to him because it wasn't possible, he always wanted what he couldn't have.

"They're dead," Rhay commented. She hadn't once taken her eyes off of her work. Apparently she wanted to get out of there quicker than anyone else.

"Fine, if that's how you're going to be. What do you think Peter?" Sirius asked. Up until that point, he'd almost forgotten the second boy was even there. Sometimes Peter was so quiet, it was just easy to lose track of him, but despite that Sirius did enjoy his company when he wanted to.

"I think dinosaurs are cool. Wouldn't it have been awesome to live in that time?" Peter exclaimed.

"Exactly what I was thinking, my dear boy. I personally would love to have had a pet raptor. They're clever pack animals, and I think they're kind of like the dogs of the dinosaur world. I love dogs," he put a bit of emphasis on the word 'dogs' but only Peter got the clue. Both boys smiled at each other, but Rhay just rolled her eyes.

"Of course you like dogs. You're exactly like one; smelly, hairy, filthy, and don't go anywhere without your friends," she said, though she had tried, the last one wasn't really an insult.

"Oh honey, you have no idea," Sirius smirked before going back to his work. Rhay actually stopped her work to look at him with a curious look, but didn't say anything.

Silence dragged on a bit until it was time to start working on the floor. They each grabbed a bucket and dipped their rags into the soapy water. Sirius spilled a bit on the floor, but only laughed at himself for using too much force when dipping his rag into the water. "It's all those muscles," he commented.

They set to work, Sirius and Peter chatting to each other every now and then. Rhay only made a few stray comments, despite Sirius' attempts to involve her in the conversation. By the time they were completed it was only eleven o'clock. They'd actually finished early, but since there were three of them it wasn't too big of a shock. Still, they had to wait for McGonagall to appear to give them the okay to leave. So Sirius leaned against the only wall without any trophies in front of it, and sighed.

"Rhay, love-:

"Don't call me love."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not your love."

"How do you know?"

"I don't love you, and you don't love me, therefore I am not your love."

"What if I did love you? What would you say then?"

"I'm not even going to give that a response."

"That's a little cold, don't you think?" Sirius said with a grin, but truthfully it stung a little. Everything he's said and done to her was all in good fun. Heck, he'd even stopped her from being slapped a week ago, she should be grateful.

"That's me, the red and cold."

Sirius laughed, despite himself. He tried to hold it in, but honestly what kind of person calls themselves cold? And does so in a clever way? No one, that's who. He thought about it for a moment before realizing that she must have been called that before. He knew it wasn't by him, though a part of him wished it was, so who could have said it? "Come up with that all by yourself, huh?"

"Nope."

"Then who did?"

"None of your business."

"Come on…tell me?"

"No, it's not important."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please!"

"No! Now shut up! Can you stop being an insufferable prat for just one minute of your Merlin forsaken life? Gosh. You are the most annoying, self-righteous, idiotic, hot person I have ever met in my entire life!" She was out of breath by the time she was done, but Sirius had barely heard anything. Instead of taking any of the insults to heart, one word made a smirk crawl onto his face.

"Did you just say hot?" he asked, and knew right away that he was right. Rhay's eyes instantly became bigger as she took a sharp breath in. Her face turned pink, but all of this only happened for a second. She quickly regained her composure and attempted to cover up what she had said.

"No I didn't."

"Yes, yes you did."

"No."

"Yes, you called me hot."

"No. I said insufferable, annoying, self-righteous, idio-" she counted off the names using her fingers, but she was unable to finish as Sirius stepped closer to her. Without even registering his own movements, Sirius took Rhay's face into his hands and kissed her. For a few moments, they both gave into the kiss and sparks flew between them, but Rhay's mind came back to her. She pushed away from Sirius, gasping for breath for a second before fleeing from the room. Sirius didn't say anything to try and stop her, because for the first time in his life he was speechless.


	7. Chapter 7

**C H A P T E R 7**

November

No matter what he did, Sirius Black could not get Rhay to talk to or even look at him. Everytime he made eye contact with her, she would immediately turn her head down and walk away. It was all very un-Rhay-like. It was just two days after their detention, but it felt like months. Time was passing slowly as Sirius kept thinking back to the kiss. He didn't know what about it was so special. He'd kissed many girls in his life, but when his lips touched Rhay's something inside of him sparked. He wanted to do it again. But it didn't look as if Rhay would ever let that happen.

"Hey Padfoot, for next Sunday we were thinking about spending some time exploring that section of the forest we found last year," James whispered breaking Sirius out of his revere. Sirius had almost forgotten that Remus' time of the month was so close. It seemed like only yesterday they had ransacked the Shrieking Shack.

"Yeah, sounds good," he muttered, distracted as Rhay walked into the Great Hall. She was with her Ravenclaw friend, the one who'd been scared of the spider that night. As Sirius thought about it, he frowned. His eyes followed the two girls as they seated themselves at the Ravenclaw table, as per usual. It wasn't every day that two students from different houses connected like those two had. Sure, he had friends in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff too, but their friendship was different. They were, well, almost like sisters it seemed.

"Will you stop staring at Rhay and pay attention? This is kind of important," James sighed loudly as Sirius turned back to him. Before Sirius could say anything, however, something started to happen. His clothing started to get tighter. He looked down with wide eyes as he watched his shirt, tie, and pants begin to transform. The whole thing lasted less than a minute. When the transformation was complete he was no longer wearing his uniform. In its place was short red dress. His eyes bludged at the corset top and frilly skirted dress that formed to his body. The edges were laced with black and his legs were covered by black leggings.

"What the-" he heard Peter mutter from across the table. Sirius looked up to see that each of his best friends also supported dresses. Peter was in a strapless blue dress, about the same length as Sirius', with a large bow at the hip. His legs were covered with orange tights. Remus had on spaghetti strap green full length ball gown. It was James' outfit, however, that shocked Sirius the most. The boy beside him was in a sequined pink dress. The top was form fitting, but the bottom puffed out like a tu-tu. His legs were sparkling with glittered silver leggings.

"Why don't you look dashing," Sirius couldn't help but find the humor in the situation. Despite the fact that almost everyone around him was laughing at the sight of him and his friends, Sirius thought it funny as well. His anger with the first prank was outdone by his appreciation for this one. Unable to control himself, Sirius turned and curtsied to the crowd with batting eyelashes. He might as well make the most of this.

"Oh thank you Sirius," James caught on quickly, emitting a high pitched voice as he spoke. The boy pretended to blush, and joined Sirius in his curtsying.

"There is no way this is happening," Peter shook his head. He and Remus didn't seem to be able to find the humor in the situation. Both were bright pink with embarrassment and urged Sirius and James to leave the Great Hall with them.

"Oh alright," Sirius gave in rather quickly. He was only going to be able to play the prank up for so long before people started to think he really _did_ like to wear a dress. So together the four boys held their heads high and walked out of the Great Hall with laughter following them.

Two people were not laughing, however. There had been a short amount of laughter that came from them in the beginning, but as soon as the boys turned it into a spectacle of attention for them. Rhay and Ardal were both glaring as the Marauders left the Great Hall. "Oh stop your glaring," Nilly commented as she noticed the girl beside her wasn't laughing with everyone else. "It's still funny, and we pulled it off." She whispered the last part, though she doubted anyone would hear over the noise.

"But Potter and Black were completely unaffected! They practically pranced out of here," she exclaimed. Nilly could see the frustration in her eyes, which she found rather funny. She stopped herself from laughing, however, as she knew that would lead to more outbursts from her friend.

"So? The other two didn't look too entertained, and I'm sure they won't find it funny in a few days when students are sure to be making fun of them," Nilly reasoned. She watched Rhay mull over what she had said before getting a nod in response. Satisfied, Nilly went back to her breakfast. A few moments of silence passed between the two before Rhay spoke again.

"Can I tell you something? You have to swear not to tell anyone." Nilly looked at her friend and noted the seriousness in her eyes before nodding. "Swear it."

"I swear I won't tell anyone," she promised, knowing that she didn't really _have_ anyone to tell. But Rhay never got to tell Nilly for the next moment, the two were approached by a solemn looking Professor McGonagall.

"Ms. Willis, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office," she said. Nilly didn't fail to notice the somber tone the professor used. "The password is Jellyslugs."

Confused she turned towards Rhay and said, "Tell me when I get back, yeah?" The brunette nodded in response.

Nilly left her Gryffindor friend alone at the Ravenclaw table, and started towards the sixth floor. She wasn't exactly positive where Dumbledore's office was, but she was sure she could find her way. Her mind raced with thoughts about what he wanted to talk to her for. It had to be something bad, that much she knew from McGonagall's voice, but what was it? Immediately her mind went to her parents. Were they hurt? Was one of them sick? The Ravenclaw began to worry as she walked. She unconsciously began to quicken her steps as she went along. By the time she reached the sixth floor, Nilly was practically running. Luckily she found the headmaster's office rather quickly.

"Jellyslugs!" she exclaimed, out of breath and with a painful cramp in her side. Instantly the gargoyles moved aside and a staircase began to weave it way up to the door. She took the steps two at a time, but paused at the entrance. She could feel her heart pounding as it worked overtime. _They're fine_ she told herself before taking a deep breath and knocking as calmly as she could manage.

"You may come in," she heard Dumbledore's soft voice call from behind the door. Tentatively she reached out a hand and twisted the knob, pushing the door open with a light creak. Dumbledore sat behind a desk surrounded by portraits on the wall. A phoenix stood on its perch just to the man's left. Nilly took a few steps forward, her body shaking with nerves.

"Ms. Willis, please take a seat." She didn't want to take a seat; she wanted to know why she was there. She wanted to be told that her parents were fine and that this was nothing to worry about. He just wanted her there to talk about classes or how she was feeling. She didn't care, as long as everything was fine back home. Nilly could see in his eyes, however, that she was not here for good news. So slowly she walked towards one of the large chairs in front of his desk and took a seat.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this Ms. Willis," Professor Dumbledore began and Nilly could feel her throat closing up. She didn't want to hear this. She didn't want to be there. She willed him to stop talking, but no words left her mouth as she sat motionless. "You're house was attacked by Death Eaters the night before last. You're parents didn't make it."

She couldn't breathe. Her mouth went dry as it seemed all the fluids in her body went to her eyes. Nilly's vision blurred over, but the tears didn't flow. "Why?" she asked desperately wanting answers. Her heart pounded, but she kept herself surprising calm. She wasn't going to break down. Not now. Not in front of her headmaster. The Ravenclaw bit down hard on her lower lip to keep her tears at bay.

"I'm afraid I have no answer for that," the old man stated. "We believe that it was a random attack, one of many in the past few months. I know this will not ease the pain, but you will be excused from classes for the rest of the week. You're grandmother has set up a place for you in her home. The funeral is set for Saturday. You can floo from here to her house then. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask."

Nilly nodded her head slowly before pushing herself out of her seat. She felt unstable on her feet, but walked slowly to the door. "Ms. Willis, you may bring someone with you on Saturday if you wish, and again I am truly very sorry," Dumbledore called to her as she reached the door. She nodded without turning around before exiting the office.

As soon as the door was closed Nilly took off. She sprinted down the stairs and through the hallways, ignoring anyone who happened across her as she went. She didn't know where she ended up, but after five minutes her body finally gave out. She collapsed to the floor, out of breath and in a fit of sobs. Her breathing was short and quick as she cried. Nilly leaned back against the cold stone wall of the castle and brought her knees to her chest. She buried her face in her knees and let the sorrow wash over.

After Nilly left, Rhay sat at the Ravenclaw table for a full minute before she realized how weird it looked. She stood up from her spot and made to leave the Great Hall. She didn't have class another full hour, so she settled with wandering the halls. Her mind immediately rested on the thoughts of Sirius. She'd been avoiding him for the past two days out of fear or embarrassment, she didn't know. All she did know was that she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to have to face him. Something happened with that kiss, something within her, and that scared her. Rhay and Sirius had never really gotten along, in fact they've butted heads so many times over the years that she'd lost count. So why did he kiss her? More importantly, why did she kiss back?

It wasn't until she found herself bumping into someone that she realized how consumed by her thoughts she had been. As she looked up to apologize to the person, she found herself face to face with the exact person she was trying to avoid. She didn't even take in the fact that the dress was still on the boy's body as she immediately turned to leave. He grabbed a hold of her arm and spun her around. "You can't avoid me forever," he said exasperatedly.

"Of course I can Princess," she retorted with a smirk playing on her features. He really did look like a princess in his dress.

"No you can't. We need to talk," Sirius insisted, loosening his grip on her arm. Rhay contemplated taking off, but she knew he would just grab her again. She sighed, knowing she was going to have to face this, despite the fact that she didn't want to.

"There's nothing to talk about. You kissed me, end of story. Simple as that. It was _nothing_," she stared him straight in the eyes, her jaw firmly set, making it clear that she wasn't going to say anything else on the subject. Sirius, however, had different ideas.

"Simple as that, huh? Then why did you run?" he asked, not unkindly.

Rhay opened her mouth to respond, but realized she had nothing to say on the matter. Why did she run? A part of her knew the answer, but a larger part of her was denying that answer. "I didn't want to deal with the post-kiss awkwardness. Besides you probably would have just made some dumb joke that would have made me angry, and you know I just didn't want a second detention," she answered after thinking about it. It wasn't completely untrue, but it most certainly wasn't the whole truth. Rhay was not going to admit that she felt something. She wasn't going to make herself look stupid like that.

"I would not have!" he said indignantly, but both of them knew better.

"You know, I don't have time for this, I have class to get to."

"What a coincidence, so do I." Rhay grumbled to herself before walking off towards Charms with dress wearing Sirius following in tow.

It'd been twenty minutes since Maddox arrived at the empty classroom on fifth floor, but still the only other one who'd bothered to come by was Ardal. The two of them had never been left alone with each other, so neither knew what to do or say. They sat in silence almost the entire time, until Ardal finally spoke. "You know, I would have thought they'd have come by after the prank," he commented casually.

"Maybe they got caught up somewhere," Maddox responded, his eyes automatically shifting towards the door. Still neither of the girls had shown up. He knew that if they hadn't come by now that they wouldn't come at all, it was getting too close to class time. "I guess it doesn't really matter."

"No. It also saves us from having to listen to Ponds go on and on for a half an hour about it too." Ardal seemed pleased at that thought. Maddox had to admit that he was sort of happy for that fact as well, especially after seeing how angry she looked that Potter and Black seemed to not care. Then again Ardal hadn't seemed too happy with it either, but he wasn't a talker like Rhay was. "Well there's no point in waiting around. I'll see you in class."

"See ya." Maddox watched Ardal leave the room and waited a full minute before following. He still had a good twenty minutes before class, so he was in no rush to get to the classroom. Instead, Maddox let his feet take him where they wanted. He thought of Mary as he walked. The Astronomy Tower incident, as he was calling it, confused him. He knew that Mary was good at Astronomy, and she certainly had known where that star was, so why did she ask for his help? The answer was obvious, but he couldn't admit it to himself. What if he was wrong? What if what he thought was her liking him was really just her trying to find a way to embarrass him? Maddox knew that it was unlikely, but that didn't stop him from thinking it all the same.

He continued to think about the brown haired girl as he turned a corner on the fourth floor to be met by a sight he hadn't expected. A part of the boy told him to turn around, that this was a private scene not meant to be seen by anyone, but he couldn't make himself do it. He knew that girl, and had grown rather fond of her over the past few months. Something was wrong, and something told him that she needed a friend right now.

"Nilly?" Maddox said tentatively as he approached the crying girl. She looked up at him with bloodshot eyes and a splotchy face. Maddox felt a tug at his heart seeing the petite girl so distraught. "What's wrong?"

Nilly took a shaky breath as Maddox took an awkward seat beside her. He'd never encountered anybody so upset before and didn't know exactly what he should do. It wasn't until she answered that instinct took over.

"M-my parents…they're d-d-," Nilly struggled with the words, but she didn't need to say it aloud for Maddox to understand. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. He knew what she was trying to say, and he had a feeling he knew what happened as well. Maddox had read the paper this morning; he just had no idea that the victims would be the parents of his friend. He put a comforting arm around her, allowing the girl to collapse against him.

"You don't need to say it," he said. The boy couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she was feeling, despite having his mother walk out on him and his father. Those were two completely different things. At least his mother was still alive. She, on the other hand, would never be able to see either of her parents again.

Maddox didn't know how long they sat there, but he knew it was a while. When Nilly finally calmed down enough to talk, she lifted her head up and looked him in the eye. He could see the pain in her eyes and it unnerved him. "Thank you," she said her voice so low that he barely heard her. "You should probably get to class."

"Are you sure? I can walk you back to your dorm," Maddox offered, not wanting to leave the girl all alone. Charms could wait.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just going to wander. I don't want to go to my room yet," she said, her eyes welling up again. Maddox gave her a hug after they stood up, and gave her one last look.

"You'll be okay," he assured her before turning to leave.

Ardal was the first to arrive to Charms that afternoon and took his usual seat in the middle of the room. It didn't take long for the other students to start arriving. Rhay was the next to come in, followed quickly by girly looking Sirius. Ardal smirked at the sight, knowing that the dresses wouldn't change back for another few hours, nor would they come off. The four boys were stuck with their girly attire. "Nice look for you Black," Ardal couldn't help but comment. Black just glared back at him, but Rhay openly laughed before sneering something to the boy following her. Ardal didn't catch what she said, but he was sure that it had something to do with the dress.

As the classroom filled up, the Slytherin couldn't help but notice that Nilly was still missing and so was the Hufflepuff he'd been with not twenty minutes ago. Ardal frowned to himself wondering where the two of them could possibly be. Flitwick was sure to start class any moment. "What's with the face?" he heard Avery ask as the boy took a seat beside him.

"Nothing," Ardal answered shortly. He owed no explanation to Avery or anyone for that matter, and the other boy knew Ardal well enough to know that he wasn't going to get one.

"Well cheer up, I've heard something that should spark your interest," Avery started. Ardal looked at the Slytherin with mild interest and waited for the boy to continue. "You're brother was a part of the you-know-what the other day. Earned his place in the inner circle I hear with it."

For the first time since Ardal had met Avery, the boy was actually right about something. His interest was sparked by the news. It wasn't the fact that his brother was a part of the attack that interested him either, it was the fact that Avery knew _before_ Ardal. He'd known that his brother, who'd graduated the year before Ardal came to school, was going to join the Death Eaters. Unlike Ardal, Darius TeGailey was a full believer in pureblood superiority. He wanted to cleanse the wizarding world of muggleborns almost as much as Lord Voldemort himself.

Before he had any chance to respond, Flitwick entered the room and promptly started class. Maddox and Nilly were both still missing. Ardal pushed those thoughts out of his mind and listened as Flitwick began to talk about the cheering charm. He instructed everyone to take out their books and begin reading up on the charm before they did any practical work. So Ardal took out his charms book and flipped to the page they were told to go to and began reading. The material was rather dull if you asked him. He didn't understand how twenty pages could be written about the theory of one charm, but their book had managed it.

Ten minutes into the reading the door to the class opened and Maddox walked in. Ardal's eyes followed the boy as he went straight to Professor Flitwick, talked to him for a moment before heading to the back of the classroom. Unable to tear his eyes away, Ardal noticed two things at once. The first was the small wet spot on Maddox's shoulder, and the second was the look on Rhay Ponds face as he whispered something to the girl. What was going on?


End file.
